How To Select An Estate Planning Attorney
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Selecting the wrong estate planning attorney can be frustrating and costly. There are several factors that you should consider before you select an estate planning attorney to work with.
Factors to consider include experience, fees (although nothing is more expensive than a cheap lawyer), education, referrals from family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers, and independent research you do online.
But the bottom line is that you should be able to trust your gut when selecting an estate attorney who will help you develop an estate legal program to protect your estate and your family.
For prospective law firm clients who want to schedule a free 15 minute initial phone call with Paul Rabalais, go to: https://go.oncehub.com/Paul8
This post is for informational purposes only and does not provide legal advice. Please do not act or refrain from acting based on anything you read on this site. Using this site or communicating with Rabalais Estate Planning, LLC, through this site does not form an attorney/client relationship.
Paul Rabalais
Estate Planning Attorney
www.RabalaisEstatePlanning.com
Phone: (225) 329-2450
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Thank you for your information. Do you have a recommendation in SW Michigan?
Solid information. Thank you.
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I removed myself from all that mess. I’m going to keep it that way. No problems.
I do not want to work with them at all.
I can not elbow
wish u were in Fl.. How do I check if an attorney is exclusive to estate planning, and knows the medicaide eligabilities.? No one
I know has used an EPesq so can't ask anyone.
Thank you for taking the time to make this video. I appreciate the information as I am looking for Estate Planning attorney in New York City
I have been following you for quite a while. I am in Texas and was executor for my stepson's estate in 2020. I learned a lot about probate that I didn't like. It took 3 months to have the court validate the will which was done by a 5 minute phone call to my attorney's office. In this case, the probate attorney saved the estate $24,000 by sending permissive notifications to the 4 debt holders. None of them responded and the debt was barred after 120 days. That easily made the $1500 attorney fee a bargain. Left to my own devices I would have just paid them. The estate had plenty of cash. My attorney said, they have to prove their claims, not just send a bill.
Tom's estate was a mess, he did everything online with almost no records. I lucked out and guess the pin to his phone and was able to takeover all of his account to manage them. It made me think about what my estate would be like for someone to administer. I already had detailed records but have enhanced them with every account, subscriptions and I also set all banks, brokerages and other financial accounts to be POD, which removes them from probate. Home and vehicles all are not TOD. There is not enough of value left to require probate.
I do appreciate your advice about selecting a estate attorney. When you mentioned education, I think continuing education is critically important. I had to educate a former tax preparer about the changes with the Cares Act. I know some of legal tax changes that will be likely in Jan 2026, Thank you for your content.
Can you please get in touch with me
Thank you 🙏
Hey we need to find an estate attorney, I called ones close to home but was turned off when I was told that we needed to pay $450 up front for a first meeting. Ours will be fairly complicated with a special needs adult son, 2 other sons, 40 year old business, with a significant amount of assets. Our last will and trusts were set up 23 years ago. We are trying to find someone we think can handle it. Is the upfront fee usual? We have a professional business that never charges a fee to meet with a future client.
This video was very helpful to me for starters. I have !ived below the poverty line most of my life, need to learn a lot about having money.. I am 74. I just inherited over a million dollars from my sister. The estate account is over 6.5 million to be divided between 5 siblings. She died over a Year ago without a will. She died in king county state of Washington. My brother hates me and keeps information from me. I am on my second estate attorney. Met in person asked for help writing a will for my son and getting information about the estate planning. Called my second attorney over a month ago to find out how soon I can finalize the will. I was told he is working on it. My bill to him is paid in full each month. Looking for my third attorney because I feel I should have at least had a conversation about writing the will. Being 74 I do not want to leave my son without a will. If you have any suggestions to point in hopeful direction. It would be greatly appreciated. Thank you
I have a quick question here....What if we notice some attorneys getting a little annoyed with all the questions that one has? For instance, Is it rude to ask an attorney if he's had complex trusts and wills he has made?
Thank you ! Wish you were in TX 😊
Outstanding information. Thank you for taking the time to share this.
i called a estate lawyer in Illinois he said i do not need to do a probate since my father property goes automatically to me and has no bank accounts is this true he also said that he said if my dad had over 100k that would qualify for probate but since its only property probate in not needed is this true?????
Do u practice in Kansas?
You sure simplify at all levels a very complex and confusing subject. Keep up the outstanding work. Shame for me your are not in CA.
Please tell me if you prepare property deeds to fund trust
Can you be my estate planner. I live in CT.
🕊🇺🇲💕
Thanks so much for the info, very informative..
Hi Paul,
I have an old Family Trust set up back in 199x together with a Pour Over Will. Does a Pour Over Will have any legal applicability over my offshore assets that I acquired not under the Trust name? I didn't have any offshore asset at the time the Family Trust was set up and never thought about this. Appreciate your advise
Whom do you recommend in California-los Angeles
When you ask people whether they liked their estate planner, bear in mind that it's only after a person dies that you find out how good a job the estate planner really did.
A lot of attorneys are jerks.. God how true. And country lawyers are really, really bad !!! They don't want to work. They never start, they never do anything. At least in McAlester, OK.
Can't I just copy my parents Living Trust and inserting our properties and assets? Will keep the costs down? Thanks
Thanks for the advice. It's always good to get advice from someone in the industry. Enjoy your videos.
Those sound like great tips, that 15 minute call idea sounds really clutch too, thank you