Estate Planning Without the Guesswork.
You should know what your estate plan is designed to accomplish and what it is likely to cost before you begin. The Skeen Firm offers straightforward estate planning options for individuals, families, and business owners in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio.
Clear documents. Clear pricing. A plan built around your life.
Straightforward planning for individuals who need the core documents every adult should consider.
- Last Will and Testament
- Financial Power of Attorney
- Healthcare planning documents
- HIPAA authorization
- Execution guidance
What Kind of Estate Plan Might You Need?
Answer ten questions about your family, assets, and goals. We will show you the planning package that may be the best starting point.
Where do you primarily live?
Who are we planning for?
Do you have minor children?
How much real estate do you own?
Do you own a business or significant business interest?
Which statement best describes your assets?
Are you interested in using a trust?
You do not need to know whether a trust is actually appropriate. This helps us understand your goals.
Does anyone in your family require special planning?
This may include a beneficiary with disabilities, addiction concerns, creditor problems, significant financial immaturity, or other circumstances requiring enhanced protections.
Are Medicaid or long-term-care planning concerns a major goal?
What are you trying to accomplish?
Factors affecting this recommendation:
Build the Plan You Actually Need.
Not every family needs a trust. Not every client should receive the same stack of documents. Our pricing model starts with your family, assets, risks, and goals, then matches the legal work to the plan.
Essential Estate Plan
A straightforward core estate plan for one individual.
- Last Will and Testament
- Financial Power of Attorney
- Healthcare Power of Attorney
- Advance healthcare planning documents
- HIPAA authorization
- Execution guidance
Essential Couple Plan
Core estate planning documents for a married couple or qualifying partners with straightforward planning needs.
- Individual wills for both clients
- Financial Powers of Attorney
- Healthcare Powers of Attorney
- Advance healthcare documents
- HIPAA authorizations
- Execution guidance
Family Protection Plan
For families who need more than basic documents, particularly parents of minor children or families with customized inheritance goals.
- Customized wills
- Guardian nominations
- Trust provisions for minor children
- Financial Powers of Attorney
- Healthcare planning documents
- HIPAA authorizations
- Beneficiary planning guidance
- Digital asset provisions
Revocable Trust Plan
For clients whose planning goals justify a revocable living trust structure.
- Revocable Living Trust
- Pour-over will
- Financial Power of Attorney
- Healthcare planning documents
- HIPAA authorization
- Certificate or abstract of trust
- Trust funding roadmap
- Beneficiary designation guidance
Business Owner & Advanced Planning
Customized planning for business owners, higher-value estates, unusual assets, complex family circumstances, and advanced beneficiary protection.
- Customized estate planning structure
- Business succession coordination
- Trust planning
- Advanced beneficiary protections
- Asset-titling review
- Real estate coordination
- Professional-advisor coordination
- Customized implementation roadmap
We Do Not Start With Documents. We Start With the Problem.
A will, trust, power of attorney, or beneficiary designation is a tool. The right estate plan depends on what you own, who you want to protect, what could go wrong, and what you want to happen if you become incapacitated or die.
Family
Minor children, blended families, unmarried partners, adult children, and complex beneficiary relationships may require different planning strategies.
Assets
Real estate, investment accounts, retirement assets, businesses, mineral interests, and multistate property all affect how a plan should be structured.
Incapacity
Estate planning is not only about death. Powers of attorney and healthcare documents can be critical if illness or injury prevents you from managing your affairs.
Probate
Some clients want a straightforward will-based plan. Others place greater value on probate avoidance, privacy, continuity, or multistate planning.
Beneficiary Protection
In some families, an outright inheritance may not be ideal. Trust planning can sometimes provide additional structure and protection.
Business & Wealth
Business ownership, succession planning, higher-value estates, tax considerations, and unusual assets may require a customized plan rather than a standard package.
You May Need a Trust. You May Not.
Trusts are useful planning tools, but they are not automatically better than wills. The question is whether a trust solves a real planning problem for you.
A Trust May Be Worth Exploring If:
- You own real estate in multiple states
- Probate avoidance is a significant priority
- You want more continuity during incapacity
- You want structured distributions to beneficiaries
- You own substantial or complicated assets
- You have privacy concerns
- Your family circumstances require greater control
A Will-Based Plan May Be Enough If:
- Your assets are relatively straightforward
- Your beneficiary structure is simple
- Your probate exposure is manageable
- You do not own property in multiple jurisdictions
- You primarily need incapacity documents and a will
- You want a simpler and lower-cost planning structure
Estate Planning in Pennsylvania, West Virginia & Ohio.
Estate planning laws differ from state to state. We build plans around the law where you live, the property you own, and the goals you want the plan to accomplish.
Pennsylvania Estate Planning
We help Pennsylvania clients prepare wills, powers of attorney, healthcare planning documents, trusts, beneficiary structures, and more advanced estate plans where appropriate.
Pennsylvania estate planning attorneys →West Virginia Estate Planning
We assist West Virginia families with wills, incapacity planning, revocable trusts, beneficiary planning, probate-avoidance strategies, and customized estate plans.
West Virginia estate planning attorneys →Ohio Estate Planning
We prepare estate plans for qualifying Ohio clients based on their family, assets, incapacity concerns, property ownership, and estate planning objectives.
Ohio estate planning attorneys →From “We Need to Get This Done” to a Finished Estate Plan.
You do not need to know whether you need a will, trust, or complicated structure before contacting us. That is part of the planning process.
Tell Us About Your Life
We learn about your family, assets, real estate, businesses, beneficiaries, incapacity concerns, and planning goals.
Build the Right Plan
We identify the documents and planning structure that make sense, explain the choices, and define the scope and cost.
Sign and Put It to Work
We finalize the documents, guide proper execution, and provide implementation guidance so the plan does more than sit in a folder.
Estate Planning Cost & Strategy FAQs
How much does an estate plan cost?
The Skeen Firm offers straightforward estate planning packages for qualifying matters. Individual core planning starts at $750, couple planning starts at $1,250, and more customized family, trust, business, and advanced planning is priced according to the work required.
What documents are included in a basic estate plan?
A basic plan commonly includes a Last Will and Testament, Financial Power of Attorney, healthcare planning documents, and HIPAA authorization. The exact documents depend on the state and the client's circumstances.
Do I need a trust?
Maybe, but not everyone does. A trust should solve a planning problem. Probate avoidance, multistate real estate, incapacity, privacy, beneficiary protection, and complicated asset structures are among the reasons a trust may be worth considering.
Is a trust better than a will?
Not automatically. Wills and trusts serve different purposes. A simpler will-based plan may be appropriate for one client while another may benefit from a revocable living trust or more advanced structure.
What if I have minor children?
Parents of minor children often need additional planning involving guardian nominations and provisions governing how inherited assets will be held and managed for children.
What if I own a business?
Business ownership can create additional estate planning issues, including ownership succession, management continuity, transfer restrictions, buy-sell arrangements, and coordination between the estate plan and business documents.
Does creating a trust avoid probate automatically?
No. A trust generally works only as intended when the appropriate assets are actually coordinated with or transferred to the trust. Trust funding and beneficiary-designation planning are therefore important parts of implementation.
Does the trust package include transferring all of my assets?
The base trust package includes a funding roadmap and planning guidance. Deeds, business-interest transfers, unusual asset transfers, tax work, and other implementation services may require additional work depending on the assets involved.
Can you help with Medicaid or nursing-home planning?
Long-term-care and Medicaid planning can involve issues beyond ordinary estate planning. When those concerns are significant or immediate, attorney review is required so the appropriate scope and strategy can be determined.
What happens if I already have old estate planning documents?
Existing documents can be reviewed to determine whether they still reflect your wishes, family circumstances, assets, current law, and planning goals. In some cases an amendment may be appropriate; in others a complete update may be cleaner.
How often should I review my estate plan?
Estate plans should generally be reviewed after major life events such as marriage, divorce, births, deaths, significant asset changes, business transactions, moving to another state, or substantial changes in family circumstances.
Can estate planning meetings be handled virtually?
Many planning conferences and document-review steps can be handled remotely. Execution requirements depend on the documents involved, applicable state law, and the circumstances of the client.
The Best Time to Build an Estate Plan Is Before Your Family Needs It.
Tell us about your family, your assets, and what you want to protect. We can help identify the right planning structure, explain what it should accomplish, and give you a clear scope and price.