If you are in the burbs and looking into starting the process of estate planning and what that entails anywhere near our office in Oak Brook, Illinois, you probably have two questions: How much should this cost, and what do I need to know to make sure that I’m not taken advantage of and I get a thorough and comprehensive estate plan that will actually work when my family needs it most?
Those are fair questions. You have a mortgage, a house that needs attention, a family, kids, and everywhere you turn, you’re hit with unexpected expenses. That’s why it’s important to understand what you are paying for and whether the investment is worth the paper it’s printed on.
In my book, Life Happens. Are You Ready? (specifically, on page 67):
“What many people don’t realize is that people with smaller estates may need planning even more than wealthy families. If a young mother and father of two pass away, wasting $25,000 on expenses and attorney’s fees is much more detrimental to their children’s financial stability than it would be to a child from a wealthy family who is inheriting a small fortune. For a few thousand dollars, people with smaller estates can put a simple and straightforward plan in place to avoid probate entirely and get the results they want, while avoiding five to ten times that amount in fees. The value isn’t the documents. Granted, they are important. But the real value is the specific and strategic coaching on how to title their property, properly set up their beneficiary designations, avoid probate, and if they have young kids, appoint guardians to raise them and manage their inheritance.”
Now, the “few thousand dollars,” isn’t an exact science. Your price will depend on your family’s needs, the type of plan you want, the attorney you use, and the services included. To make that number useful, you need to understand the work behind it. Let’s walk through what affects the cost, what a comprehensive plan should include, and what to ask before you hire an attorney.
What affects the cost of an estate plan?
Two families can own homes of similar value, have roughly the same savings, and need very different plans.
Imagine one couple whose children are in their thirties, are responsible, have great jobs, and are financially independent with families of their own. Now imagine another couple with young children, a family business, and a child from a previous marriage. The second family has additional decisions to work through: who will raise the children, who will manage their inheritance, what happens to the business, and how to provide for both a surviving spouse and children from an earlier relationship.
Your balance sheet tells only part of the story. An attorney also needs to get to know you, your family dynamics, and the specific outcome you want for your loved ones, at life’s most critical moments.
The work involved may change based on:
- Whether you need a will, a trust, or a combination of planning tools. The right choice depends on your goals, assets, and family circumstances.
- Whether you are planning for one person or a couple. Each adult needs individual decisions about medical care, financial authority, and who should act if something happens.
- How you own your property. Multiple properties, business interests, and assets in other states can require additional coordination.
- Your beneficiaries’ needs. Minor children, a loved one with a disability, or concerns about how someone will manage an inheritance call for careful planning.
- The tax questions involved. Some families are blessed to have so much money that they they exceed the federal and Illinois limits before incurring estate taxes. Those families need additional analysis, planning strategies, and coordination with their tax advisers.
- How much implementation and continuing support the engagement includes. Preparing documents, helping put the plan into effect, and reviewing it over time are distinct parts of the work.
Before comparing two prices, make sure both attorneys are proposing to solve the same problems.
What should an estate-planning fee include?
A useful proposal explains both the documents being prepared and the help you will receive putting them to work. Here are the components I would want a family to discuss.
1. Education and a plan designed around your family
The process should begin with a conversation about your life. Who depends on you? Who do you trust to make decisions? What concerns you about leaving money to your children? What would you want to happen if you were alive but unable to manage your affairs?
In Chapter 5 of my book, I describe the Family, Wealth & Legacy Plan™ process: education, custom design, implementation, regular revision, and assistance carrying out the plan when the family needs it.
You should leave the planning process understanding ALL of your options, the decisions you’ve made, the reasons you made those decisions, exactly what the documents you signed mean, and the most important part….EXACTLY what you need to do when you leave the attorney’s office with your fancy binder.
2. The legal documents your circumstances require
Ask your attorney to identify each document included in the quote and explain its job in plain English.
| Planning component | What to clarify before hiring the attorney |
|---|---|
| Will | What instructions will it contain, who will be nominated to administer your estate, and how will it coordinate with the rest of your plan? Naturally, the goal may be to avoid probate and strategically name beneficiaries on ALL of your assets, or simply, you may be under the Illinois Small Estate Affidavit limits and simply watching when your net worth exceeds that amount to update your plan. |
| Revocable living trust, when appropriate | What property is it intended to hold, how do you fund it properly, who will manage it when you no longer can, and how and when will it be distributed to your loved ones when you can no longer benefit from it? |
| Financial power of attorney | Who may act for you, what authority will they have, when does that authority take effect, and who do you need to provide it to while you’re alive and well, so your loved ones won’t be denied from activating it when you need their help most? |
| Health care power of attorney and related directives | Who may make medical decisions, when are they allowed to make decisions on your behalf, will there be any delays or hassles for them to assume those responsibilities, how many medical providers will have to approve their right to take over, your specific legally documented directives, and who you need to provide copies of those documents? |
| Planning for minor children | Does the plan address guardian nominations, backup choices, conditions for when they can serve, separate financial guardians to manage your children’s inheritance, and emergency care arrangements? |
| Supporting documents | Which authorizations, assignments, deeds, filings, or other documents are needed, included, and what will require additional charges? |
Illinois law provides separate statutory powers of attorney for property and health care. They serve different purposes: one addresses financial and property matters; the other allows you to authorize someone to make health care decisions. Your plan should address both. See 755 ILCS 45/3-3 and 755 ILCS 45/4-10.
For parents, Illinois also permits a written designation of a guardian, including in a Will, or a Standby Guardian Designation. A nomination does not override the other parent’s rights or replace the court’s role in appointing a guardian. That is one reason this conversation deserves more attention than simply filling in someone’s name, especially following a divorce. See 755 ILCS 5/11-5. As an experienced family law attorney, this situation requires explicit and sensitive guidance, documentation, and attention to detail that is often overlooked if something should happen to the primary parent and the biological parent isn’t the best suited to care for the child’s best interests, if something should happen to you.
3. Help connecting your assets to your plan
This is where you need to ask very specific questions.
If your attorney prepares a trust, who will help you determine which assets belong in it? Who prepares a deed if your home needs to be transferred? Who reviews beneficiary designations? Who checks whether the necessary steps were completed?
The Illinois Trust Code recognizes transfers of property to a trustee and declarations that an owner holds identifiable property as trustee among the ways to create a trust. The connection between your property and properly “funding” your trust matters. If not, it’s not worth the paper it was printed on and can actually cause more harm than good.
In practical terms, ask whether “funding assistance” means written instructions, individual guidance, preparation of transfer documents, or follow-up to confirm completion. Those descriptions can represent very different amounts of work, and can drastically affect the cost.
This does not mean every asset should be retitled into a trust. Retirement accounts, insurance policies, and other assets need to be evaluated individually and strategically assessed asset-by-asset, so their ownership and beneficiary designations work with your overall plan.
4. Organization and instructions your family can use
Take a moment and imagine your spouse or children trying to identify every account you own without being able to ask you a single question.
Would they know where to begin? Will they spend months in crisis, trying to break into your email and rifling through filing cabinets, adding unnecessary stress to the unimaginable?
In my book, I discuss the importance of a financial inventory, accessible instructions, and a system for keeping information current. I also explain why preserving your values, memories, and family stories belongs in the planning conversation.³
Ask whether the “estate plan” and fees include help organizing this information, explaining responsibilities to the people you have chosen, plan reviews, and preserving the personal guidance you want to leave behind. These services can make a meaningful difference to your family, and they should be clearly explained at the onset.
5. A plan for reviews and changes
Your family will change. You may have another child, buy a home, get divorced, remarry, or lose someone you named to serve in your plan.
Your “estate plan” needs to evolve and grow along with your life, wealth, circumstances, and changes in the law.
The planning process described in my book includes annual or three-year reviews. When discussing your own engagement, clarify the review schedule, what the review covers, and whether document changes carry an additional fee.
A review meeting and a revision to your documents are different services. Knowing how each is handled helps you budget beyond the initial signing.
Flat fees, additional expenses, and future work
A flat fee gives you a defined price for a defined scope of work. The important word is defined.
Before committing, ask for a written explanation of the total fee, the work included, and any expenses you will pay separately. Illinois Rule of Professional Conduct 1.5(b) generally requires lawyers to communicate the scope of representation and the basis or rate of fees and expenses, preferably in writing. Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 1.5.
Your proposal should make clear how it handles:
- Deed preparation, recording charges, and work involving property in another state.
- Additional trusts or specialized planning that will be required beyond the original engagement.
- The planning process, when decisions will need to be finalized, and what your responsibilities are during the planning process.
- Future review meetings, document updates, and any ongoing service or membership fees.
- Legal assistance after incapacity or death, including trust or estate administration.
Do not assume future administration is prepaid because the firm intends to maintain a long-term relationship with your family. Ask how that work will be engaged and billed when the time comes. More importantly, do not assume your attorney and their “guidance” will include instructions on EXACTLY what you need to do after you leave their office, or assistance in “funding” your Trust. On page 80 of Life Happens. Are You Ready?, I wrote:
“Probate is expensive: Even after you’ve already paid for a Will to be prepared, your family will still have to pay for court costs, bond fees, appraisal fees, attorney’s fees, executor fees, and more. The costs will vary depending on what state you are in, but national studies report a range of 2 to 8 percent of your gross estate is lost to these fees. To put that in perspective, if your estate is valued at $1,000,000, the statistics show that probate could cost your family anywhere from $20,000 to $80,000.”
To be clear, in Illinois, I think we’re on the low end of those statistics, if not well below, for an average and straightforward probate. Yet, for a few thousand dollars, you can avoid the necessity of your family paying those fees. Even worse, an attorney who prepares a plan that is destined to fail may end up making more money than they would have for a well-drafted, thorough, and well-managed estate plan. Caveat emptor, my friends.
Questions about estate-planning costs in Oak Brook
A Will alone may involve less initial work than a plan that includes a Trust. But compare the full scope of the proposals, and althought a Will is generally much less expensive than a Trust, you have to consider the long-term costs for your family and the real-life impact of both approaches. Ask how each approach addresses your property, incapacity, children, implementation, ongoing guidance, and future support. The document’s name does not tell you everything included in the price.
Ask for a clear fee proposal after discussing your circumstances and before authorizing the work. Explain your budget early. The conversation should leave you understanding what the attorney recommends, why it fits your family, and what it will cost.
Just remember that no two estate plans are created equally, and the service and documents you get from one attorney may be drastically different than another. Its not like buying an Iphone and this is definitely one area of the law where you want to work with an experienced and knowledgeable professional who specializes in their field. Also, it’s imperative that you determine whether your goal is to find the “cheapest” plan possible, or one that will work when your family needs it most.
Check the engagement agreement. An included review does not automatically mean every future amendment or modification is included down the road. Ask about both routine updates and major changes, such as a divorce, remarriage, or a substantially modified plan.
Gather your existing estate-planning documents, a basic list of your assets and debts, information about how property is owned, and your current beneficiary designations, if available. Think about whom you trust to make decisions and any concerns involving your children or other beneficiaries. You do not need every answer before getting started and a capable and experienced professional should guide you through every step of the process.
Start with your family’s needs and a clear understanding of the fee
I want you to feel comfortable asking what estate planning costs. I also want you to know what you will receive for that investment and what responsibilities you will have after signing. Now, don’t be surprised if the attorney is not prepared to give you a final quote within minutes of your initial call, nor should they, because they don’t know you, your family dynamics, or anything about your individual circumstances, in fact, it would be irresponsible to do so.
At Family, Wealth & Legacy Legal Solutions, our approach begins with education and thoughtful preparation. We may give you a range of costs at the initial 15-minute call, but we begin the process with a two-hour working meeting to get to know you, your goals, and assess your specific circumstances before making any specific recommendations. From our office in Oakbrook Terrace, we help families in Oak Brook and surrounding communities plan for the people and property that matter to them.
You can learn more about our estate-planning approach or book an introductory call to discuss your family’s needs and the next steps toward a personalized fee proposal.
You do not need to become an expert in estate planning. You do need to understand your options—and take the time to make decisions and legally document them while you can.
💬 Ready to discuss your family’s plan? Book a free 15-minute introductory call to discuss your goals and receive a transparent fee proposal.
About Oak Brook Estate Planning Attorney Michael Biederstadt
Michael Biederstadt founded Family, Wealth & Legacy Legal Solutions with one mission: to keep DuPage County families out of court and out of conflict—and to protect them from life’s most common legal problems: death, disability, and divorce. He is also the author of the book, Life Happens. Are You Ready?, which provides families with actionable guidance on protecting their wealth and legacy across generations.
Michael’s approach is unique because he addresses the intersection of estate planning and family law, ensuring that a client’s legal strategy protects both their assets and their family dynamics. For nearly two decades of practice in the Chicagoland area—beginning in 2007 and expanding through his firm FWLLS, founded in 2023—he has seen firsthand how a lack of integrated planning can unravel even the best intentions.
At FWLLS, Michael leads a comprehensive four-meeting planning process that puts education first. This ensures clients make informed decisions today while benefiting from ongoing three-year review meetings to keep their plans current as their lives evolve. FWLLS works alongside each client’s financial and tax advisors to build a coordinated strategy, not just a set of documents.
FWLLS is located at 17W635 Butterfield Road, Suite 318, in Oakbrook Terrace, serving families throughout Oak Brook, Naperville, Downers Grove, and all of DuPage County. To start the conversation, book a free 15-minute introductory call at fwlls.com/book-a-call or call (630) 233-4223.
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This article is a service of Family, Wealth & Legacy Legal Solutions (FWLLS). At FWLLS, we do not just draft documents — we ensure you make educated, informed, and empowered decisions for yourself and the people you love.