Need advice on Wills and Real estate

[MaxPowers]

I know this is a finance forum, but lots of smart people here and I don't know many good active forums, so here it goes.
My father died recently and my mom is starting to take care of business. They didn't have a recent will, so they had to "probate" everything. She has been talking to a lawyer and he is helping her with it. for a outrageous charge of course. She also wants to make a will, which the lawyer will charge $1000 for. I want to know if this is a good price? I know you can make them online for like $15. She is 63, will get the house in her name when they finish the probate stuff, and has a couple cars. Not much wealth, but enough for her. Should I talk to her about doing it online or let her proceed with the lawyer?

Also, she needs to sell the house. It won't be any time soon, but she will use this time to prepare it to be sold. She lives in Round Rock, Texas. Big 2 story house. Can anyone give me advice or material to read so I can help her? Such as things that should be done before you start to present the house. Areas to focus on. What to look for in a Realtor?

Thank you

[jIM_Ohio]

I know this is a finance forum, but lots of smart people here and I don't know many good active forums, so here it goes.
My father died recently and my mom is starting to take care of business. They didn't have a recent will, so they had to "probate" everything. She has been talking to a lawyer and he is helping her with it. for a outrageous charge of course. She also wants to make a will, which the lawyer will charge $1000 for. I want to know if this is a good price? I know you can make them online for like $15. She is 63, will get the house in her name when they finish the probate stuff, and has a couple cars. Not much wealth, but enough for her. Should I talk to her about doing it online or let her proceed with the lawyer?

Also, she needs to sell the house. It won't be any time soon, but she will use this time to prepare it to be sold. She lives in Round Rock, Texas. Big 2 story house. Can anyone give me advice or material to read so I can help her? Such as things that should be done before you start to present the house. Areas to focus on. What to look for in a Realtor?

Thank you

Shop around for the will, I bet you can get it done for cheaper. I had legal insurance thru an employer 3 years ago and paid nothing when mine was done, but $1000 seems steep.

At same time will is done, get health care power of attorney, living will, and will done (we had lawyer prepare 4 documents for each spouse). I believe some of that was DNR order, who has authorization for health care decisions, who has power of attorney if I am still living, and the will itself.

If your mother lives in a well off area, it might serve her well to find a lawyer 75 miles away in a remote area which charges less per hour.

[skydivingchic]

This is ridiculous. DBF and I each had wills and advanced health care directives done last year. Additionally, we had the way our condo was titled changed and the lawyer filed the paperwork with the County for us. So 5 documents total. We paid ~$800 for all that. We live in San Diego, so its not like this is a low cost of living area with correspondingly low professional fees and the documents were done by an established law firm. Get another quote if this is just a simple will.

I will second Jim's advice to get the health care stuff done as well. DBF was in a serious accident last year after we had done those documents. I was half way around the world when I found out and I was extremely thankful I was able to send the hospital a document to help guide any decisions until I could get there.

[jIM_Ohio]

This is ridiculous. DBF and I each had wills and advanced health care directives done last year. Additionally, we had the way our condo was titled changed and the lawyer filed the paperwork with the County for us. So 5 documents total. We paid ~$800 for all that. We live in San Diego, so its not like this is a low cost of living area with correspondingly low professional fees and the documents were done by an established law firm. Get another quote if this is just a simple will.

I will second Jim's advice to get the health care stuff done as well. DBF was in a serious accident last year after we had done those documents. I was half way around the world when I found out and I was extremely thankful I was able to send the hospital a document to help guide any decisions until I could get there.

I will second getting the health care documents done, and make sure your family knows the line of succession for something like the DNR (Do not resuscitate) if one exists.

This is a true story

My cousin (age 34 now) was married and had twin girls with her husband. She had known her husband for about 7 years and was married for about 4-5 of them (girls were 3-4 yo). In May of 2009 we went camping with them... a few weeks later her husband was admitted to the hospital with a form of lymphoma (cancer in the blood I believe). He was put in a medical coma, he died after she had to decide to pull the plug a few weeks later.

To this day, her in laws resent her for pulling the plug. I hear lots of side to this (my cousin is a very close family member to me, and gets along with my wife really well). It's not my place to judge one way or the other, but I can tell you having a DNR would have solved a portion of the in laws issues.

The DNR means if you are brain dead, can someone pull the plug (there might be a more technical term for this, this is my understanding). The DNR is "my wish" and no one needs to authorize it.

There is also a health care power of attorney- who is allowed to make medical decisions on my behalf- my wife is obvious choice #1, my mother in law is choice #2 (for example if wife and I are in a car accident at same time).

You want both, plus a will, plus a living will (I do not know difference between will and living will without looking it up).