People who call us usually want to know three things before they come in: who they will be talking to, what it will cost, and what they will have when it is done. This page answers them.
The consultation
Your consultation is with Spiro Verras, who has practiced law since 1993 and is the firm’s only lawyer. It lasts at least an hour, and it is a conversation rather than an interview. Before you come in, we ask you to complete our estate planning questionnaire, which travels to our office over an encrypted connection. He reads it before you arrive, so the hour goes to your decisions rather than to spelling and dates.
The hour covers your family and the people who will act for you; what you own and how each asset is titled, because titles and beneficiary designations override a will; the choices that carry the most consequence, such as who serves as personal representative, trustee, agent, and health care surrogate; and the real tradeoffs between a will-based plan and a trust-based one, including probate, privacy, continuity during incapacity, cost, and the work of funding a trust. By the end of it you will know what your plan should contain, what it will cost, and, often, what you do not need. We will tell you when a simpler plan serves you as well as an elaborate one.
There is a consultation fee for the hour. It is modest, and if you engage us for documents or other services it is credited in full against their cost. We charge it because the hour is real work, and because clients who have paid for advice tend to use it. Existing clients ordinarily do not pay it.
Fees
Estate planning documents are prepared for flat fees, quoted in writing before the work begins. Our current fee disclosure accompanies the questionnaire, so you will have seen it before we meet. A flat fee includes the drafting, a review of the drafts with you, the signing at our office with the witnesses and notary that Florida law requires, your copies, and the permanent storage of your original documents in our safe. Recording charges for deeds and certificates of trust are included in the fee for those documents. Where a matter presents unusual complexity, such as property in several states, a closely held business, transfer-tax planning, or anticipated conflict among beneficiaries, the additional work is quoted before it is undertaken, never afterward.
Probate and trust administration are handled on retainer, with attorney’s fees under the statutory schedule, and other work, including agreements among beneficiaries and amendments to documents prepared by other lawyers, is billed hourly. The engagement letter states the basis of the fee in every case.
What a plan includes
A will-based plan ordinarily consists of the will, a durable power of attorney, a combination living will and designation of health care surrogate, a declaration naming a preneed guardian, and, where there is a home, a deed that carries it to the people you choose without probate. A trust-based plan replaces the will with a revocable trust and adds the certification of trust, the assignment of your property to the trust, a funding memorandum that tells you what to retitle and how, and a pour-over will. Every dispositive provision is written for you; we use professional drafting software to keep the forms current, and we change them to fit you.
Who does the work
Spiro Verras conducts every consultation, writes every dispositive provision, and supervises every signing. A small and experienced staff handles scheduling, document production, recording, and the care of your originals. You will know everyone who touches your file.
Is this the right office for you
We are not the least expensive estate planning office in the Tampa Bay area, and we do not try to be. If your situation calls for a simple will and nothing more, we will say so and prepare it at our flat fee. Most clients come to us because something in their circumstances will not be handled well by a form: a blended family, a child who needs assistance managing money, a loved one living with addiction or mental health challenges, a family member whose benefits require careful coordination, property in more than one state, a business, or simply the wish to have the plan done once, correctly, by a lawyer who will still be here when it is needed.
Next steps
Complete the questionnaire, and our office will offer you appointment times in Palm Harbor, by appointment in Tampa or St. Petersburg, or by video conference. Please bring a valid government-issued photo identification for each person we will be representing. If any of this is difficult, bring what you have; the questionnaire is a starting point for the conversation, not a test.