We have wills but they are old. Don't think my now adult children would want to go live with their now aging uncle. We just need update to wills with all investment and reals estate assets held jointly and children as survivors. I get estimates of $600.00 per will for basic plus a "living will." and power of attorney. Seems high to me but I don't want to use cheap online "wills by mail", "rocket lawyer" or whatever either. Anyone got an idea as to what is reasonable for a "simple" will.

I typically find for a simple estate plan (will, durable poa, healthcare poa, living will) you're looking around $500 for an individual and 750 for a couple.

Not all attorneys will do it for that low but there are some who will.

You should be able to find someone to do it for the 750 for a couple. There have been updates recently. Please remember to review your estate docs every 6 months after you turn 70. Not so much wills, but your living wills, directives to physicians, and medical powers of attorney. MAKE SURE whoever does your estate docs does them somewhat frequently (more than 5 or so times a year for clients). Otherwise, you'll get a litigation or other attorney who may be a good attorney who might grab an old form, not knowing things have changed drastically in the last few years (Texas probate law is actually starting to come into the 19th century now).

I would recommend paying more and getting an estate planning attorney. Then you need to have a family meeting to go over everything.

Keep in mind, you won't get a chance to fix a bad will or living will if it ends up not working the way you want it to. Just the nature of the beast. Not the things to pinch pennies on IMO. Like the poster above suggested, find an estate planning attorney that knows their stuff, even if it costs a little more.

Hate to piggyback, but at what point is a trust a better idea than a will? When I lived in CA, it seemed like everyone had a trust instead of a will, and an acquaintance who was an estate planner told me $100k+ and it's better to do a trust. But I'm curious if maybe TX laws are better for wills than CA.

When the grandparents died here in TX it was really nice that they had everything in a trust and mom was the trustee. All she had to do was figure out how much to hold for taxes and then the rest was dispersed.

Not an attorney. I'm a financial planner. I am in TX. I have a living trust. It's more of a luxury and not a necessity here but in California it's essential. My understanding is the probate process in CA is extremely time consuming and expensive so it's imperative to avoid probate if at all possible. One attorney told me it's basically malpractice to not have a trust in California. Here it seems like it's more of a personal preference thing.

I chose a trust because I don't want my wife to have to go through probate for any of our assets. It's just that simple.

Many thanks. Either way I need to finally get off my butt and do something and this thread is a good reminder.

Trust will run probably $1,500 spending on how many revisions you go through with the attorney.

Do a trust. Probate is hell, even in Oklahoma (currently dealing with my father's estate up there since December '18)