Short answer: Ask how the attorney charges and what’s actually included, how probate and trust administration get billed if that becomes necessary, and how they will communicate with you and your family over time. At Ridley Law, a complete trust-based estate plan is a flat fee of $4,100 for a married couple and $3,700 for a single person, covering the trust, the pour-over will, incapacity documents, and the deed moving a California home into the trust. Get the answers to those questions in writing before you sign anything.
How does the attorney charge for a complete estate plan?
Ask whether pricing is a flat fee or hourly, and exactly what the quoted price includes. A flat fee for a full plan should tell you upfront what documents you’re getting. At Ridley Law, the flat fee for a complete trust-based estate plan, meaning a revocable living trust, a pour-over will, incapacity documents, and the deed that retitles a California home into the trust, is $4,100 for a married couple and $3,700 for a single person.
Not every matter fits a flat fee. Trust administration disputes and other work requiring extended legal involvement are usually billed hourly. At Ridley Law that rate is $500 per hour. Ask directly which category your situation falls into and get a written estimate of the total.
How does probate get billed, and does that change your incentive to avoid it?
If your estate plan doesn’t avoid probate, or you’re already handling someone else’s estate, the billing rules are different from estate planning itself. The attorney representing the estate in probate is entitled to a statutory fee calculated on the same schedule as the personal representative’s fee under Probate Code § 10800: 4 percent of the first $100,000, 3 percent of the next $100,000, 2 percent of the next $800,000, 1 percent of the next $9,000,000, and 0.5 percent of the next $15,000,000. Probate Code § 10810 entitles the attorney to that same fee, calculated separately.
On a $1,000,000 gross estate, that schedule produces $23,000. The executor collects $23,000 and the attorney collects a separate $23,000, for $46,000 in ordinary statutory fees before court costs, bond, or any extraordinary fees. An executor can also seek additional compensation for extraordinary services, such as litigation, tax matters, or selling real property, at the court’s discretion under Probate Code § 10801. Ask the attorney directly whether your matter is likely to stay within ordinary administration or run into extraordinary fees.
This is also the moment to ask how long probate is likely to take. The California Courts Self-Help Guide estimates nine months to a year and a half for a typical probate, measured from the date the court appoints a personal representative. In practice, twelve to eighteen months is a realistic expectation.
Who decides what a trustee gets paid?
Trustee compensation works differently than probate fees, and it’s worth understanding before you name someone, including yourself, as trustee. A trustee is paid whatever the trust document specifies, under Probate Code § 15680. If the trust is silent on compensation, the trustee is entitled to reasonable compensation under the circumstances, under Probate Code § 15681. There is no statutory percentage for trustees. The § 10800 fee schedule that applies to probate does not apply to trust administration.
Ask the attorney how they typically draft the compensation provision in your trust, and whether they’ve handled trust administration disputes where compensation was contested.
How much probate and trust administration experience does the attorney have?
Ask how many probate and trust administration matters the attorney has handled, what size estates, and what complications came up. Ask specifically how they’d handle a contested accounting, a beneficiary dispute, or a trustee who isn’t cooperating. A firm that only drafts documents and never administers an estate afterward may not be the right fit if you expect your own estate to need active management down the road.
What should you ask about guardianship and family-specific planning?
If you have minor children, ask how the attorney handles naming a guardian in your documents and what happens if your first choice becomes unavailable. If a family member has a disability, ask whether the attorney can set up a special needs trust designed to provide additional resources without disrupting eligibility for needs-based government programs, and ask how that trust would be funded and administered.
These are family-specific questions with no universal answer. The right questions get the attorney talking about your actual situation instead of a generic pitch.
What should you ask about communication and keeping the plan current?
Ask how the firm handles questions after signing: phone, email, secure portal, and how quickly you can expect a response. Ask what their process looks like if a family member needs to reach them in an emergency involving your incapacity or death. Ask how often they recommend reviewing and updating the plan, and whether updates are included in the original fee or billed separately.
A plan that never gets updated after a marriage, divorce, birth, death, or move out of state stops matching your actual wishes. The attorney’s answer to this question tells you whether the relationship ends at signing or continues.
Figures verified July 2026.
What to do next
Write these questions down before your first consultation and ask them directly: how you’ll be charged, what’s included, how probate and trustee compensation work if they become relevant, and how the firm communicates after signing. A California estate planning attorney should answer all of them without hedging. If you want a straight answer on cost before you call anyone, see Ridley Law’s fee page or call 805-244-5291.
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