Tate, GA Estate Planning Law Firms & Lawyers

You may find an attorney who is willing to review and help you sign documents that the attorney didn't prepare, but honestly you will likely not be well-served by that course of action. In order to review a Will and revocable trust, for example, any attorney at my firm would need to read the document in depth, in addition to meeting with you to understand your situation, your wishes, and what you are trying to accomplish in the documents, in order to ensure that the documents are adequate or to know what changes should be recommended. That kind of work is generally hourly rate work, and a thorough review and consultation takes a lot of time. You would likely be better off just having new documents prepared (an amended and restated revocable trust), especially if you find an attorney who does estate planning work on a fixed fee basis. In my firm, we always review existing documents as part of an estate planning consultation, and if the underlying documents really are pretty good, then sometimes we can help with the few changes needed. But it is almost never the most cost-effective way to do it, because there's so much from-scratch work and we can't give you a flat fee because we don't know how long it will take. If you really are set on doing this yourself and just finding an attorney who will review the documents you prepared and help you sign them, this is not the correct forum. You will need to look up attorneys in whatever area you want to work in, and then call or e-mail each attorney's office directly to see whether or not they will perform this kind of work and how they will charge for it. Again, you may find one. But it likely won't be inexpensive.

I almost NEVER recommend adding your children to your real estate while you are still alive. Doing so makes a gift, generally a taxable one for which you need to file a gift tax return. It also exposes your real estate to your children's potential problems: divorce, creditor problems, etc. It can also create significant problems for you if you ever find yourself in need of Medicaid benefits for your own long-term care, and create problems for you for income tax purposes if the property is your principal residence and you sell the property during your lifetime. If you are considering adding your children to your real estate, you should first consult an estate planning attorney to discuss your reasons for thinking that you should do so and see whether there is a better way to address those concerns (there generally is). That being said, you do not have to use a quit claim deed to transfer interests in real estate. There are other types of deeds, and, in fact, it may often be preferable to use a Limited Warranty Deed or Warranty Deed to make a transfer with regard to real estate, because that can help preserve the benefits of any title insurance policy you may have on that property. But you DO have to use a deed to transfer an interest in real estate during your lifetime; there's not another way (at least not in Georgia--if you are in another state, that state's laws may allow for other kinds of transfers). The process of determining what kind of Will a person needs and what provisions that Will should have is ALWAYS estate planning. That's a large part of what that term means. The rest of estate planning means making sure that the person who is making the Will also has other needed documents, such as a Power of Attorney and and Advance Directive for Health Care, and helping the person make sure that any beneficiary designations and jointly owned assets will pass in the intended manner and not in a way that contradicts the intent. You don't have to be wealthy or have a complicated life to need estate planning. So no, I do not ever just help someone make a Will without engaging in estate planning. That being said, I have clients who have very simple Wills, as well as clients who have very complicated plans using all sorts of documents. Like many of my fellow estate planning attorneys, I am happy to work with people who need only simple planning as well as those whose needs are more complicated. The important part, from my perspective as an attorney, is that my clients need to be people who care what happens both during their lifetimes and after their deaths, and want to make sure things are done correctly. If you are interested in speaking to me, I do offer a free estate planning consultation. The purpose of the consultation is to determine the potential client's needs and goals, and develop an appropriate plan and a fee proposal. Best wishes to you.  

Sounds like your husband should hire an attorney to review the situation and advise him of the risks. Not only could it be what they are claiming but it may subject himself to a criminal charge for abuse of the elderly in Florida.