Canadian Lawyer Magazine's top 5 trusts & estates firms

Often on this blog, I recommend to readers that you find a lawyer with good skills and experience in wills and estates law. Some of you tell me that it isn't easy to find someone good. So, I thought I'd share with you this article from the latest issue of Canadian Lawyer magazine, which gives its list of the firms it considers to be the top five trusts and estates firms in the country. Maybe one of these firms is close enough to you so that you can access the expertise they offer. The firms are in Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria. Click here to read the article.

Growing Pains - why hasn't the collaborative law approach caught on for estate disputes?

A new article in Canadian Lawyer magazine talks about the fact that while collaborative law has been a huge hit for family law disputes such as divorce, custody and maintenance issues, it hasn't yet caught on for estate disputes. Many lawyers, including me, believe that collaborative law could be a wonderful idea for families who have important estate issues to sort out but who really don't want to endure the emotional and financial stress of fighting it out in court if at all possible. So what's the problem? Why hasn't it worked out better for estate disputes? Click here to see what Canadian Lawyer magazine has to say on the subject.

To read my earlier blog post that describes collaborative law, click here.

What do lawyers charge to make Wills?

In their June 2010 edition, Canadian Lawyer magazine has presented the results of a survey of law firms across Canada to find out what lawyers are charging clients to prepare their documents. While the survey covers several kinds of fees from criminal defense work to intellectual property, I'm going to focus just on the fees for Wills and Powers of Attorney (in other words I'm picking and choosing from the data). The link to the digital edition of the magazine is here, but you will need an email address to access it so I'm not sure if everyone can actually see the article.

Ontario:
fees to do a simple will range from $278 to $510
fees to do a complex will range from $704 to $2,061
fees to do a power of attorney range from $108 to $219

Western Canada:
fees to do a simple will range from $242 to $508
fees to do a complex will range from $538 to $1,520
fees to do a power of attorney range from $124 to $251

Atlantic Canada and Quebec:
fees to do a simple will range from $215 to $642
fees to do a complex will range from $662 to $2,100
fees to do a power of attorney range from $137 to $338

It's also interesting to compare the average cost nationally by the size of the law firm:
simple will by a firm having 1-4 lawyers: average $294
simple will by a firm having 5-25 lawyers: average $413
simple will by a firm having 26+ lawyers: average $489

complex will by a firm having 1-4 lawyers: average $751
complex will by a firm having 5-25 lawyers: average $1,147
complex will by a firm having 26+ lawyers: average $1,520

I still sometimes hear people, who apparently have sticker shock when they are quoted a price by a lawyer, saying things like "I can get a Will from the lawyer down the street for $100". Seriously, the days of $100 Wills are over. You might as well do it yourself as pay the person who charges $100. The real value of a lawyer when preparing your Will is the advice that you get on trusts, taxes and executorship, and the peace of mind that your family is protected.