Protective legal documents

mrs&mrsA · August 2013

My wife and I are preparing for the birth of our baby and want to get all possible legal documents in order. Same-sex marriage and second parent adoption are NOT recognized here. We have been quoted a price by a recommended lawyer familiar with LGBT laws in Arizona but are curious what other have paid for similar services. Do any of you have recommendations in Arizona? How much did you pay for your estate planning and second parent legal documents? Thanks.

GoaliesWife123 · August 2013

I'm not familiar with lawyers in Arizona, but I am an attorney and would charge either a flat or hourly fee. Most lawyers will charge a flat fee for something like this, but it depends entirely on the lawyer. Depending on the extent of your estate, it shouldn't be *too* much of a fee.

You can check out avvo.com which is a great site where you can ask your legal questions for free (you do have to make it short, or else you have to donate). Ask in the Arizona probate or family law sections and hopefully you will get an answer.

Best of luck!

2MamazInSeattle · August 2013

before marriage was legal in WA, we has 3 docs done: healthcare power of attorney (along with a living will) financial (durable) power of attorney and a will. It was a ling time ago but I think it was around $1000. I found a newer lawyer to do it who had senior oversight since it was not rocket science. Also we paid the excise (sales) tax to add her to the title of the house "joint tenants with rights to survivorship" (vs.tenants on common, where her next of kin would have inherited her half of the house and id have had to buy it from them and pay taxes). Last, we added each other to the car title, bank accounts (though we kept money separate, it eliminated a freeze on accounts if she died and her family getting the money). We actually kept copies of power of attorney handy (glove box of cars) and always when we traveled. You can do these last things without an attorney, and some simple wills and stuff are available online. Our attorney emailed us the Word docs, we filled it all in at home, sent it back for her review and then signed. Of course there is more to consider with kids in terms of those docs. Hope that helps!

mrs&mrsA · August 2013

Thanks for your replies. Our lawyer quoted us $2200 which includes adding our baby and future children. She is well known in the LGBT world in Phx and certainly experienced. Its pricey but those documents are truly priceless.

GoaliesWife123 · August 2013

Medical power of attorney is a must, as is a living will for each of you. DW and I still haven't drawn up our Last Will & Testament, but are going to very soon. If you own a home, definitely listen to 2mamaz!

LolaBelle515 · August 2013

We paid $1500 for legal services to do a 2nd parent adoption in Minnesota. It's definitely worth it to work with someone who is experienced in this particular field--good luck! Also, it may be that you will be eligible for the Adoption Tax Credit, since your relationship is not recognized. We got almost the entire $1500 back with our taxes after the adoption...

keepsawaythenargles · August 2013

We live in Michigan where there is also no same sex marriage OR second parent adoption. Our lawyer charged us about $1200 for all of the documents and my name change. Good luck!

GoaliesWife123 · August 2013

@Melissa61788 what documents did you have drawn up, not including the name change?

keepsawaythenargles · August 2013

@GoaliesWife123

We have:

Domestic Agreement
Wills
Power of Attorney (one of these include HIPPA stuff)
Durable Power of Attorney
Quit Claim Deed for the house

Basically she drafted the domestic agreement so WHEN it becomes legal in MI it turns into a pre-nuptial agreement. But currently it states our wishes and what happens if we split, what happens when we have kids...etc

GoaliesWife123 · August 2013

So smart! Thanks for the info. I may be an attorney, but it never hurts to ask what others are doing to "protect" themselves. DW and I don't have a house and have drafted our POA and Living wills, but are still in need of a parenting agreement and wills. It's just so sad that any State is still denying marriage

KH826 · August 2013

We live in Pennsylvania. We don't have marriage equality, but we do have 2nd parent adoption.

We also paid about $1200 for Healthcare POA, Durable POA (financial) and Wills. Our attorney will eventually do our adoption when the time comes. She said that will be about $2500-3000 depending on fees, etc. We already know that we are going to try our darndest to give birth in Philadelphia County, even though we live in the next county over, since Philadelphia County does not require a home visit during the 2nd parent adoption process. I am thankful that we found our attorney, who is super knowledgable, and has already helped us navigate a lot of new information.

We purchased our home together, and we are joint tenants with the write of survivorship, but if you own any real estate without your partner/spouse listed on the deed, I would look into that as well.

The other thing that I can recommend would be life insurance. My company offers a very nice package, and I was able to list my wife as beneficiary even before we were married. I was able to list my wife as the beneficiary on my 401k as well. hopefully we won't ever have to worry about using either for a very long time, and hopefully by the time we do, our marriage will be officially federally recognized and there won't be any estate tax issues.

The one thing that we are looking at in addition to all of this for this year is getting an accountant who has experience with LGBT families. The adoption charges are all tax deductible in PA, as are out of pocket fertility costs that are equal to or greater than 7% of your annual net income. Since we will be about $20k in the hole this year (yay IVF HAHA), we will be able to claim that. Combine that with the fact that I am hopeful that by January the govt will have figured out the implications from the DOMA ruling enough so that I hopefully will not have to pay tax on my wife's health insurance benefits (through my employer), as I have in the past.... all of this means, we need an accountant. My days of turbo taxing it are over. I am really hopeful that 2014 will mean some really killer tax refunds though (fingers crossed!)

ATXmommas · August 2013

I think I've mentioned it's before in another post, but Texas has legal protection plan - kinda like legal insurance. We pay a monthly fee ($17.25) and many services are covered including name change, estate planning, and adoption. Everything other than court fees are covered, so we're not out too much money. Just sharing so others can check to see if their state offers a similiar plan.

ETA: the only caveat is finding an attorney who participates in TLPP. Luckily, we are in Austin where there are plenty of LGBT friendly lawyers who participate. Love that one of our attorneys is a lesbian whose wife is also due in Nov.

aud+rey · August 2013

We are in the process of getting our legal documents in order. It will be a flat $1500 and they add that in to what they call a "Family Planning" Package. Basically, it will be rolled in with our adoption package so that it can all be refunded with taxes. We are in Texas, like ATXmommas. We are in Houston, though, and have found a wonderful LGBT lawyer as well.

firstcomeslove2013 · August 2013

This is something we still need to do...it makes me nervous that we don't have anything in place!!! I have checked out legal zoom...has anyone else looked into that service to provide these documents?

KH826 · August 2013

I used Legal Zoom for my name change, before I met our lawyer who did everything else for us. Honestly, I feel like Legal Zoom ended up being kind of a rip off. I think it would have been equally affordable (or maybe even a little cheaper) to have had our lawyer do my name change. Plus, with the POAs, Wills, etc., these documents can be customized much more when you have a lawyer who knows you drafting them, instead of just an anonymous service like Legal Zoom. You will just get something basic and boiler-plate with Legal Zoom, but that might be OK for you guys depending upon what you need. With that in mind, I would recommend finding an LGBT lawyer who you trust, as it will be worth the investment in the long run anyway - beyond just estate planning.

songbird31 · August 2013

We went with an lgbt lawyer in our city and paid $900 for both of us to do living and last testament wills, body disposition, hipaa for both of us a co parenting agreement, power of attorney, medical power of attorney, a nomination of a guardian for S while we wait for the 2nd parent adoption, and authorization for consent to the medical treatment of a minor child not yet born (just in case something terrible happens to me). And hospital visit authorization. Whew! She also drew up paperwork initially for our known donor, which we ultimately decided not to use. I navigated the court system on my own to change my name in order to save a couple of hundred bucks.

songbird31 · August 2013

HBM- yes it's my understanding that we could do that as well in tn but I would have to be a stay at home mom (with little to no traceable income) here. But only until the 2nd parent adoption, so we definitely considered our options and decided to move forward with our original plan for me to continue working and solidify the adoption instead. But I would definitely suggest couples look into ther options. If the government won't recognize us then we might as well take advantage of the system they have provided if that makes sense for your family

kristynlee710 · August 2013

Check out Human Rights Campaign and Lambda Legal online - they have a lot of great resources that are specific to each state.

GoaliesWife123 · August 2013

As an attorney, I would strongly advise against using any online program for a will, POA, parenting agreement, etc. This kind of site is "ok" to draft up an LLC or basic car contract, but I wouldn't recommend using it for something that requires certain things to be considered valid.

You can check your local bar association website for forms, etc, as well!

Want a personalized experience?

Protective legal documents

Re: Protective legal documents

Choose Another Board

Search Boards