[MRM]

Don't chose a lawyer based on internet searches. You might get a good one (you probably will) but as a consumer you have no way of judging who is a good or bad lawyer. The best way to do it is to get a referral from someone who used that lawyer and had a good experience.

As for cost, it's all over the place, but it should be pretty reasonable. $1,000 seems a little low to me, but $2,500 or less should be easy to do. Costs should be minimal because there isn't any reason for the documents to be very complicated with the new estate tax that was just passed. California does not have an estate tax and the feds now have an exemption of $11.2 million per taxpayer. That means you and your wife have a combined $22.4 million exemption before you start paying estate taxes.

For anyone who doesn't have a $20 million plus estate, estate planning is pretty easy these days. You just write the will or trust to take advantage of both exemptions and you identify who it is you want to have your stuff. If you're doing a living trust you have to draft deeds placing your real property into the trust. That's a little bit of a hassle but that's what paralegals are for.

At the same time you'll want to do a health care directive and issue a power of attorney in case you're incapacitated. Those are just forms that come right out of the statute books and you fill in the blanks.

Look for someone who specializes in wills, trusts and estates, rather than someone who does a bunch of things and advertises he can do wills trusts and estates. The more wills and trusts the lawyer does per month the better he is at it, the faster and more efficient he will be, and the cheaper his price will be.