Guide · Estate Planning
How to Choose an Estate
Planning Attorney in Florida
Nine questions to ask any firm before you sign, what the answers reveal, and how we answer the same questions ourselves.
Short answer
Credentials and reviews are a starting point, not a decision. The reliable way to choose is to ask every firm the same few questions and compare the answers: will they put the full fee in writing before you sign, who actually drafts the documents, who defends the plan if it is ever challenged in court, and will the same attorney be there at next year's review. Any good firm can answer all nine questions below without flinching. The answers just differ, and the differences are the decision.
Choosing an estate planning attorney is harder than it should be, because every firm's website says roughly the same things: personalized service, peace of mind, protecting what matters. None of that tells you what you will pay, who will do the work, or what happens when the plan is tested.
This guide takes the opposite approach. It gives you nine concrete questions to ask any Florida estate planning firm, including this one, explains what each answer reveals, and then answers each question for our own practice so you can see the format in action. Take the list to every consultation you book.
The Nine Questions
Question 1
“Will you put the full fee in writing before I sign anything?”
Most firms say "flat fee" or "transparent pricing" somewhere on their website. The test is whether they will state your actual number, in writing, before you commit. A firm that quotes only after an in-office consultation is not wrong to work that way, but you should know the difference between a published price and a sales meeting.
How we answer it
Our fees are published at kogan.law/pricing: a will-based plan is $1,500 for one person or $2,200 for a couple, and a trust-based plan is $3,500 or $4,500. Every fee is confirmed in writing before any work begins.
Question 2
“Who actually drafts my documents?”
At many firms the attorney you meet is not the person who prepares your will or trust. Drafting may go to an associate, a paralegal, or document software, with the attorney reviewing at the end. That model can work, but you should know whose judgment is actually in the document.
How we answer it
The attorney you meet is the attorney who drafts. There is one lawyer here, so there is no hand-off.
Question 3
“If this plan is ever challenged, who defends it in court?”
Wills and trusts are tested in two places: at the signing table and, sometimes years later, in a courtroom. Many excellent planning firms do not litigate at all; if your estate is contested, the file gets referred out to a trial lawyer who has never seen it. Ask where the courtroom work goes, especially if your family situation makes a dispute plausible.
How we answer it
I have spent 17 years litigating in Florida courts, including disputes over exactly these documents. I draft plans with the challenge in mind, and if a fight comes, I can stand behind what I drafted.
Question 4
“Will the same attorney handle my review next year?”
An estate plan is not a one-time purchase; it needs reviewing when the law changes or your life does. At larger firms the attorney who drafted your plan may have moved on by then, and continuity depends on the file, not the person.
How we answer it
Yes. A solo practice means the person who drafted your plan is the person who reviews it, this year and after.
Question 5
“What happens to my file and my plan if your firm changes?”
Attorneys retire, firms merge, associates leave. The honest answer at any firm involves two parts: your original documents belong to you and work regardless of who drafted them, and the firm should have an arrangement for client files. Be wary of any suggestion that your plan only works if that firm administers it.
How we answer it
Your plan is a set of complete, self-contained documents that any Florida attorney can pick up and administer; nothing is locked to this firm. Ask me this question directly in a consultation and I will answer it for my own practice, the same way any firm should.
Question 6
“What language will my plan be explained in?”
Florida documents are executed in English, but understanding them is the whole point. If English is not your first language, ask whether the attorney, not a staff interpreter, will explain the plan in yours, and whether written materials exist in your language.
How we answer it
Consultations and explanations are available in English or Russian, directly with the attorney. Our pricing, guides, and planning tools are published in both languages.
Question 7
“Which fees are flat and which are quoted, and why?”
A trustworthy fee structure distinguishes predictable work from variable work. Estate plan packages can honestly be flat because the scope is known. Formal probate cannot, because the work depends on the estate. A firm that calls everything flat is glossing over that difference; a firm that publishes the distinction is showing you how it thinks.
How we answer it
Estate plan packages and summary administration ($3,000) are flat. Formal administration is not flat: it starts from $4,500 and is quoted per matter after a free call, because the work genuinely varies.
Question 8
“What do you not handle, and where do you send it?”
No attorney does everything well. Complex Medicaid planning, contested guardianship trials, and multi-million dollar tax structuring are specialties. A firm that answers "we handle everything" is telling you something; a firm that names its referral lanes is telling you something better.
How we answer it
I refer out matters that belong with specialists, for example long-term-care Medicaid planning and complex estate tax work, and I will tell you that in the first call rather than learn a specialty on your file.
Question 9
“How do updates work after I sign?”
Ask what a review costs, what a simple amendment costs, and how the firm tells clients when Florida law changes something that affects them. The answer shows whether the relationship ends at the signing table.
How we answer it
Reviews and amendments are quoted up front like everything else, and clients hear from us when the law moves; ask about the current update terms in your consultation.
What Not to Over-Weight
Two signals get more attention than they deserve. The first is review count. Reviews are worth reading, but a large count mostly measures how systematically a firm asks for them. Read a handful and notice whether they describe the attorney you would actually work with. The second is office size. More attorneys is not more safety; it usually means your matter moves between hands. What you want is a clear answer to question 2, whoever gives it.
And one signal that deserves more attention than it gets: whether the firm will tell you no. A firm that names what it refers out (question 8) is showing you how it will behave when your matter hits something outside its lane.
Common questions
How do I choose an estate planning attorney in Florida?
Interview one or two firms and ask the same short list of questions: the full fee in writing before you sign, who actually drafts the documents, who defends the plan if it is challenged in court, whether the same attorney handles future reviews, and what the firm refers out. The pattern of answers matters more than any single credential.
What should an estate plan cost in Florida?
For standard situations, will-based packages commonly run in the low thousands and trust-based packages somewhat more. The Kogan Firm publishes its fees: $1,500 to $2,200 for a will-based plan, $3,500 to $4,500 for a trust-based plan, both flat for standard matters. Whatever firm you choose, get your number in writing before work begins.
Does my estate planning attorney need to be board certified?
Board certification in wills, trusts and estates is a meaningful credential, and for complex tax or elder-law matters a certified specialist is often the right call. For most family estate plans the more practical questions are who drafts the documents, what it costs in writing, and who would defend the plan in a dispute. Different problems call for different credentials.
Why would courtroom experience matter for estate planning?
Because estate plans fail in court, not at the signing table. An attorney who has litigated will contests and trust disputes has seen which drafting choices survive challenge and which invite one. That experience feeds back into how the documents are written.
Is a big estate planning firm better than a solo attorney?
Neither is automatically better. A larger firm offers depth of staff; a solo offers continuity and direct access, since the person you meet is the person who drafts, files, and answers. Ask any firm, of any size, who will actually do your work and who you will deal with next year.
Keep reading
Paul Kogan
Fort Lauderdale Litigation Attorney, The Kogan Firm, P.A.
- 17+ years
- Florida Bar
- Martindale Peer Rated
Ask Us the Nine Questions
Bring the list to a free consultation.
Fifteen minutes, by phone or Zoom. Ask every question on this page and get direct answers, including the full fee in writing before any work begins.
This guide is general information about choosing counsel in Florida, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. The right attorney depends on your assets, family, and goals.