Learn About Our History
About Us
Ready to help
North Carolina Residents.
At The Elderlaw Firm, we’ve helped thousands of North Carolina clients prepare personalized estate plans. We’ve developed NC Estate Plans specifically to help people who prefer a do-it-yourself approach to customize their own plan, at a lower price, and still have their plan reviewed by an experienced North Carolina estate planning attorney. Attorney Dennis Toman founded The Elderlaw Firm over 20 years ago, to provide caring, knowledgeable and responsive estate planning and elder care law services.
Since 2002
Our offices are located in Greensboro, NC, where we have a remarkable group of dedicated professionals helping clients make better plans for life’s uncertainties. Together with our remote team members, we all work to provide clients with amazing client service and the right estate plan prepared for each client’s situation and goals. We help people navigate life’s challenges through better planning. Through NC Estate Plans Online we can offer people throughout North Carolina customized Wills and Powers of Attorney, online.
Documents designed to meet your needs and the highest legal standards.
All of our documents have been designed by experienced North Carolina attorneys to meet the highest legal standards. We’ve applied decades of in-person experience and expert estate planning skills, so you can quickly and easily customize your documents for your specific needs. Plus every estate plan includes a 30 minute review with a lawyer at The Elderlaw Firm.
what do you need?
Built by attorneys,
customized by you.
NC Estate Plans is designed for people seeking a simple, streamlined and complete process at do-it-yourself pricing. Our plans start at just $350. You can complete your plan in about 15 minutes. You’ll also get a 30 minute attorney review. Start today to gain peace mind by making your wishes known and better protecting your family and loved ones.
important things you should know
Frequently Asked Questions
Getting Started
An estate plan provides instructions for what should happen upon a person’s incapacity or death. An estate plan allows people to make sure their wishes are known and respected. A proper estate plan will make hard times easier for ones, and provides peace of mind.
A typical estate plan includes a Will that designates the person who will settle the deceased’s estate, and states who will receive an inheritance. The Will also names a Guardian for minor children, and can include a Children’s Trust to manage a child’s inheritance until they are old enough to make good decisions (for example until age 25 or 30).
Proper estate planning requires having Powers of Attorney to appoint a trusted relative or friend (called an Agent) to make financial and medical decisions for you in you are not able to do so someday.
Failure to plan means the State generally results in more expense, more delays, and more heartaches and headaches, for both death and incapacity.
Online estate planning is best to reduce costs, for routine planning and typical situations. We have seen too many mistakes when people do estate planning that does not involve any attorney review, or with documents that are improperly signed.
That’s why we have built amazing technology and include a no-cost attorney review during your complimentary signing meeting.
If you have sizeable assets or a complicated situation then you should definitely retain an experienced estate planning attorney.
But if you have a typical situation then online estate planning can work very well, especially when paired with our complimentary attorney review, and save you money, too.
Sometimes, yes. For example, you should hire an experienced estate planning attorney if you have a child with special needs, or you are wanting to avoid probate court, or if you have a son or daughter who makes bad life decisions. Also, getting your attorney’s advice would be important if you have sizeable assets (generally $250,000 or more plus a house) or want to protect against future nursing home costs.
If you’re in a situation where you think you might need an attorney to customize the right estate plan for you, you can call our office at 336-378-1122. We offer a free initial case evaluation so you’ll know whether we can help, and the price you can expect.
Most people complete the simple, step-by-step questionnaire in 15 minutes or less.
But if you prefer you can take as long as you wish. Some people prefer to take their time to answer the questionnaire. You even can answer some of the questions and then close the questionnaire and come back later to complete it.
The good news is this is simple and you can proceed at your own pace. That’s up to you.
A benefit of NC Estate Plans is that you know the pricing before you even start. Please visit our pricing page for pricing information. Also, we offer a 100% money back satisfaction guarantee.
Yes you can. North Carolina requires that the lawyer needs to talk with the person before they review and sign their documents.
If you’re answering the questionnaire for someone else, please make sure to answer from their perspective. For example, when the questionnaire asks about marital status or children, you’ll answer that for them not yourself.
Anyone who signs estate planning documents must have the legal capacity to do so, and not be under any constraint or undue influence. That is another reason why having a proper signing meeting is important, to have documents that are legally binding under North Carolina law.
That depends upon your situation and your goals. A Will makes a person’s wishes known in the event of death. If there are assets that pass under the Will then a court proceeding is required, which is called “Probate.” A Trust on the other hand is a way to avoid or reduce the Probate process. A Trust involves more work up front but it can save time, expense, delay, and family friction later.
Generally Trusts are used when there are significant assets (typically $250,000 or more) that would otherwise require probate. Trusts are also used for tax reasons and to preserve assets against future nursing home costs.
You can ask the attorney at your signing meeting whether a Trust might be advisable. If at your signing meeting you decide to upgrade to a Trust-based plan, the price of your NC Estate Plans estate planning will be 100% credited to doing a Trust for you instead.
