Law Office of Rick Todd Blog

Friday, August 5, 2016

Choosing a Trusts and Wills Attorney in Columbia, Maryland (Howard County)

Choosing an attorney is like choosing any service provider. Various factors need to be taken into account before making a decision, including cost, reputation, and even likability of the provider. Lawyers are licensed service providers who generally work hard to provide the best service possible. The lawyers in Columbia and Howard County Maryland are generally speaking no different than the lawyers found in other prestigious and wealthy communities.

Your will is a vital part of the organization of your estate. While writing your own will is perfectly legal, it’s generally not a good idea: having a wills attorney draft it for you is the best course of action. But, how do you determine the right attorney for you and for your estate?

Virtually all attorneys use templates to write legal documents. No attorney is going to draft something for you from scratch. It would take dozens of hours to draft a will from scratch and errors and omissions would abound as an attorney tries to craft from memory the clauses a client would need to best serve his estate plan. If all attorneys use templates, how do you determine which wills attorney is right for you?

Attorneys who concentrate on estate planning are almost certainly going to be better suited than an attorney who practices estate planning “on the side.” While both have access to templates, an attorney who concentrates on estate planning is simply going to have more client experience and stronger knowledge of relevant law to better assist the client in drafting a will or trust. Someone who does not concentrate on estate planning will probably choose more generic factors in drafting estate planning documents that could produce non-ideal results.

Client experience in the area gives an attorney the background to understand how every client’s unique issues can effect an estate plan. A divorced client with children from a first marriage, a client who has a child with disabilities, and a client who has religious views that restrict how he should be treated if he has a terminal condition: these are common scenarios that an experienced estate planning attorney can handle. When you hire an attorney you are basically paying for knowledge. You tell an attorney your issue, and the attorney applies knowledge to your problems to solve them. In this case, you hire a wills attorney, and he can provide specialized knowledge to produce the best will for you and your situation.

Finally, meet with the attorney. See if he’s personable and will get along with you! If you’re working closely with someone you don’t like, it will make getting to the end result far harder. 


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The Law Offices of Rick Todd has offices located in Columbia, Chevy Chase, Fairfax, Virginia, and Maryland and serves clients throughout Clarksville, Columbia, Ellicott City, Fulton, Rockville, Bethesda, Potomac, Laurel, Howard County, Montgomery County, and Washington D.C.



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