Practice No. 1 — The foundation
Wills & Revocable Trusts
Flat fee from $1,200 individual · $1,950 couple
A will or revocable living trust, drafted for Virginia law and actually funded — because a trust that never received your assets is an expensive stack of paper.
For the couple who has been meaning to do this since the first child was born, and the retiree who suspects the will from 1998 no longer says what it should.
How we handle it
Most estate plans fail at the funding stage. Ours don't, because we do the retitling with you. When we prepare a revocable trust, the engagement does not end at the signing table. We prepare the deed that moves your home into the trust, sit with you while the brokerage paperwork gets done, and confirm each beneficiary designation in writing. That last mile is the difference between a plan and a promise, and it is the part most firms quietly leave to the client.
The plan itself is built in plain English. You will read every dispositive provision before you sign it, and you will understand it, because we write to be understood: by you, by your executor, and by a Circuit Court clerk in a hurry. Where Virginia law has a sharp edge (the augmented-estate rights of a surviving spouse, the rules on tangible personal property lists, what happens to a beneficiary who dies first), we will show you the edge and draft around it.
Whether you need a will or a trust is a question we answer honestly, not reflexively. Plenty of Virginia families are well served by a will with transfer-on-death designations; plenty of others (those with property in two states, privacy concerns, or children from prior marriages) are better off with a funded revocable trust. The flat fee is published either way, so the recommendation is never about the invoice.
What the fee includes
- A design meeting where we map family, assets, and intentions, before any drafting
- Will or revocable trust, drafted to Virginia Code and read with you line by line
- Pour-over will, durable power of attorney, and advance medical directive included in every trust package
- The deed retitling your Virginia home into the trust, prepared and recorded
- Written funding instructions for every account, and confirmation that each one was completed
- A signing ceremony with proper witnesses and notary; no shortcuts on execution formalities
- A bound original set plus a digital copy, and a letter telling your executor where everything is
- One included review meeting three years after signing
The honest timeline
Week 1 — Design meeting
Sixty to ninety minutes at the office or by video. We leave with a complete picture; you leave with a fixed fee confirmed in writing.
Weeks 2–3 — Drafting
You receive full drafts with a plain-English summary letter. Read them at your kitchen table; call with questions.
Week 4 — Signing
One hour. Witnesses and notary provided at our office. You walk out with a finished, enforceable plan.
Weeks 4–8 — Funding
For trust plans: deed recorded, accounts retitled, designations confirmed. We track every item to written completion.
What to bring
Or what to gather — none of it needs to be perfect.
- A rough list of what you own — accounts, real estate, life insurance, business interests (statements help, exact figures don't matter yet)
- Any existing wills, trusts, or powers of attorney, even ancient ones
- Full legal names of the people you intend to name — spouse, children, executor, guardians
- Deeds to any real estate, if handy
- Your questions, including the awkward ones; we have heard them all
Questions we hear about wills & revocable trusts
Do I need a trust, or is a will enough?
It depends on facts, not fashion. A will plus transfer-on-death designations serves many Virginia families well, and probate here is less fearsome than the seminars suggest. A funded revocable trust earns its fee when there is real estate in more than one state, a blended family, privacy concerns, or a desire to spare your family the Commissioner of Accounts process entirely. We will tell you which you need at the first meeting, and the published fees mean our advice carries no hidden motive.
What does the flat fee actually cover?
Everything listed above: design meeting, drafting, revisions, execution, and for trust packages the funding work, including the deed. There is no meter running on phone calls. If something genuinely outside the scope appears (a contested guardianship, a tax controversy), we tell you before a single additional dollar accrues.
We signed wills in another state. Are they valid in Virginia?
Usually valid, frequently inadequate. Virginia recognizes out-of-state wills executed properly where signed, but the documents around them (powers of attorney, advance directives) travel poorly, and moving here changes the property-law ground under the plan. Bring the old documents to the consultation; the review is part of the conversation, not an upsell.
How often should the plan be reviewed?
Every three to five years, or on any of the big events: marriage, divorce, a death in the family, a move across state lines, a significant change in what you own. Your third-year review meeting is included in the fee. After that, most reviews are a short flat-fee appointment, not a new plan.
Often planned together
Probate & Estate Administration
From $3,500 · scoped in writing at the first meeting
We handle the court, you handle the family: qualification, inventory, the Commissioner of Accounts, and the final accounting, carried.
Powers of Attorney & Advance Directives
Flat fee from $350
A durable power of attorney a bank will actually honor, and an advance medical directive your family can actually follow.
Elder Law & Incapacity Planning
From $1,500 · scoped after the first family meeting
Long-term care costs, Medicaid's five-year look-back, and a plan that keeps a person's dignity and savings intact.
Put your affairs in order this season.
Thirty minutes on the telephone, no charge, and you will know exactly which documents you need and exactly what they cost. That is the whole commitment.
Or telephone the office: (804) 555-0158