Experienced Legal Guidance for Life, Family and Business

Estate plans are usually offered on a flat fee basis and are not based on the value of your assets. Probate administration is usually offered between $1,500 and $7,500 for a flat-fee uncontested estate, or the statutory rate which averages around 3% of the gross estate's value. The total expense depends on the size of the estate, whether there is any discord among the heirs/beneficiaries, whether any businesses need to be closed, and the number of assets being probate. All probate fees are generally paid directly out of the estate’s assets rather than out-of-pocket by the family.Litigation, Business and Tax clients are billed at the attorney's hourly rate.

The process usually takes three meetings.Meeting #1 - Intake Meeting. During this meeting, Elan will review your family structure and your estate planning goals. Elan will ask you questions to determine how you want your assets to be divided depending upon certain fact patterns. After this meeting, Elan will draft your documents. (This meeting usually takes an hour.)Meeting #2 - Review Session. You will have received your drafts electronically or via mail (whichever you prefer). Elan will go over each document with you to make sure the information is correct and to ensure that you understand the purpose of each document. (This meeting usually takes between 30 minutes and an hour.)Meeting #3 - Signing Session. You will come to our office to sign the documents before two witnesses and a notary. (It usually only takes 15 minutes to sign all of the documents.) After the signing is complete, we will scan your signed documents into our document management program. We will organize your original documents in a binder and will contact you when your binder is ready. All in all, the process can take as little as three weeks, but the answer really depends upon the speed in which you review and approve your drafts and how soon you are available to sign the documents after that.

Sure, but you'll get what you pay for and in many cases the forms you find on the internet are outdated and insufficient.

Yes! Even if you had a lawyer draw up your plans recently, you should still make sure your documents will be respected by Florida law. In many cases, the only things you will need to have redone are your Will and your Power of Attorney. Trusts are respected in all 50 states. However, it may be beneficial to change the situs of your trust to Florida, which will only require a simple amendment to your trust.

You will always meet with an attorney and not with staff. If you are seeking estate planning, probate administration, business law or tax law advice, you will meet wtih Elan Kaney. If you are seeking litigation counsel, you will meet with Lester Kaney.