An estate plan, depending on the complexity, can range from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars.

    An estate plan is often coupled with a more comprehensive plan that includes incapacity planning, with advance directives for health care, nominations of guardian and/or conservator, powers of attorney, and other such documents.

    Even if the cost is a few thousand dollars, for the average middle class family where there is a home and where there are some savings, the cost of an estate plan is often only a fraction of one percent of the total of the assets that are being passed on.

    In addition, the savings one gets by having a trust that avoids the need to post a bond, or by having a Will that waives the bond that would otherwise be required in a probate, may be as much or even more than the cost of the estate plan.

    Even if this is not a factor, a cost of a fraction of a percent of the total of the assets that are being passed to the heirs and beneficiaries through an estate plan seems a small amount to pay to ensure that one’s wishes are carried out, to be sure that assets go to the people one intends to benefit, to avoid Oregon state estate taxes (if the person controls over a million dollars at the time of his or her death), and to be sure that assets do not flow directly to a child immediately upon the child reaching 18 years of age, with no controls whatsoever on how the child then spends the money.