The Bowman Law Firm

Single: $2,500* 

Married: $2,900*

Preferred by homeowners, families with minor children, and clients who want added privacy and continuity.

A trust-based plan is designed to help your home, accounts, and other properly funded assets pass outside of probate.  It can be especially helpful if you own real estate, have minor children, complex beneficiary situations, or want to simplify administration for your family. This plan gives your loved ones a clear roadmap and can reduce the need for court involvement when assets are properly titled and beneficiary designations are coordinated with the trust.

What’s Included:

• Custom Revocable Living Trust Agreement
• Pour-Over Last Will & Testament
• Guardian Nomination (if Applicable)
• Durable Financial Power of Attorney
• Advance Medical Directive & Healthcare Proxy
• HIPAA Privacy Authorizations
• Deed Preparation for your Primary Residence
• Step-by-Step Trust Funding Coordination & Asset Advice
• Lifetime Electronic Document Storage

*A more complex trust structure may be recommended in certain situations, such as blended families, beneficiaries with special needs, business succession planning, or where additional asset protection or tax planning is desired. These enhanced structures involve additional drafting, coordination, and customization, with a typical additional investment of $500-$1,500.

Single: $1,500* 

Married: $1,800*

Often a good fit for clients with adult beneficiaries and a straightforward estate.

A will-based plan creates a clear legal foundation: it names who should manage your estate, who should receive your assets, and, if you have minor children, who you would nominate as guardian. This option is often best suited for clients whose beneficiaries are adults, whose estates are straightforward, and who do not need ongoing trusts to manage assets for young beneficiaries.

For parents of minor children, a will is still important because it allows you to nominate guardians. However, if minor children would inherit significant assets, a trust-based plan may provide better structure, privacy, and long-term management.

What’s Included:

• Last Will & Testament 
• Guardian Nomination (if Applicable)
• Testamentary Trust (if Applicable)
• Durable Financial Power of Attorney
• Advance Medical Directive & Healthcare Proxy
• HIPAA Privacy Authorizations
• Beneficiary Designation Guidance & Coordination
• Lifetime Electronic Document Storage

*It’s important to note that a will does not avoid probate. In Virginia, probate can involve additional time, cost, and administrative steps. For many families, a will-based plan can be paired with a Transfer on Death Deed for a home, and updated beneficiary designations for financial accounts.  When used correctly, this approach can often help most assets pass outside of probate, without creating a full Revocable Trust.

Our goal is to help you understand your options so you can choose an approach that aligns with your goals, your family, and your comfort level.

Single: $750* 

Married: $950*

For medical and financial protection during your lifetime.

This plan helps make sure someone you trust can step in if you are sick, injured, traveling, aging, or temporarily unable to manage your own affairs. Without the right documents, your loved ones may face delays, bank refusals, medical privacy barriers, or even court involvement before they can help.

A Lifetime Decision-Making Plan gives your chosen agents legal authority to manage finances, speak with medical providers, access health information, and make health care decisions if needed — while keeping you in control of who is allowed to act.

What’s Included:

• Comprehensive Durable Financial Power of Attorney
• Advance Medical Directive
• HIPAA Privacy Release Documentation
• Estate Plan Guidance & Beneficiary Designation Advice
• Lifetime Electronic Document Storage

*These documents are an important foundation for every adult. This plan does not direct who receives your assets after death. If you also need a will, trust, guardian nomination, deed, or probate-avoidance planning, a Will-Based Estate Plan or Trust-Based Estate Plan may be a better fit.

Flat Fee: $500* (All-Inclusive)

A simple way to keep your home aligned with your estate plan.

Your home may be your most valuable asset, and how it is titled matters. If your deed is not coordinated with your estate plan, your family may face unnecessary probate, delays, or confusion after your death.

This service helps Virginia homeowners update title in a way that matches their plan. For some clients, that means a Transfer on Death Deed so the home passes directly to chosen beneficiaries outside probate. For others, it means a Trust Transfer Deed so the home is properly funded into a revocable trust.

We prepare the deed, coordinate the signing, and handle electronic recording so the transfer is completed correctly.

What’s Included:

• Custom Virginia Transfer on Death (TOD) Deed or Trust Transfer Deed 
• Electronic Filing through County Land Record Systems
• Estate Plan Guidance & Beneficiary Designation Advice
• Includes all local county recording taxes, technology fees, and electronic clerk filing surcharges

*Deed pricing applies to Virginia real estate and includes preparation and recording of one deed for one property. If you own property outside of Virginia, additional planning or coordination with local counsel may be recommended.  Additional deeds may be added for $350 per additional property when prepared at the same time. All county recording taxes and electronic filing surcharges are included in the flat fee.

Prenuptial (Before Marriage): $1,900* 

Postnuptial (During Marriage): $2,800*

For couples who want clarity about separate property, shared property, and future expectations.

A marital property agreement can help couples enter or continue marriage with a clear understanding of how assets, debts, income, inheritances, real estate, businesses, retirement benefits, and family wealth will be treated.

These agreements are not about planning for failure. They are about reducing uncertainty, protecting both people, and making sure important financial expectations are discussed and documented before conflict arises.

This can be especially important for couples with prior assets, children from a prior relationship, family gifts or inheritances, business interests, real estate, pensions, stock compensation, or significant differences in income or debt.

What’s Included:

• Tailored Prenuptial or Postnuptial Agreement Drafting
• Financial Disclosure Asset Review
• Coordination with Estate Planning Goals
• In-Home Execution and Compliance Guidance
• Lifetime Electronic Document Storage

*A more complex agreement may be recommended in certain situations, such as blended families, significant separate property, business ownership, family trusts, substantial inheritances, real estate portfolios, support planning, or estate planning coordination. These enhanced agreements involve additional drafting, disclosure review, and coordination, with a typical additional investment of $500–$1,500+ depending on complexity.

*Independent legal counsel for the other party may be required or strongly recommended. This helps ensure that both parties understand the agreement, have an opportunity to ask questions, and enter into the agreement voluntarily and with appropriate legal guidance.

Flat Fee: $500* (Fully credited toward any future updates)

For older estate plans, out-of-state documents, or major life changes.

If you recently moved to Virginia, created your documents years ago, or experienced changes in your family, assets, health, or beneficiaries, your estate plan may no longer match your life.

An Estate Plan Review gives you a clear answer about what still works, what may need to be updated, and whether your documents are aligned with Virginia law and your current goals. If updates are recommended, the full $500 review fee is credited toward those changes.

What’s Included:

• Review of your existing estate planning documents
• Virginia law and signing-compliance review
• Beneficiary designation and asset titling check
• Practical recommendations for what to keep, update, or replace
• Full $500 credit toward recommended amendments, restatements, or new documents

*If the review shows that your documents contain outdated provisions, legal gaps, out-of-state compliance issues, or no longer match your goals, I will provide a clear flat-fee quote and updated engagement agreement before beginning any additional work.

Understanding Your Documents

The Primary Benefit: Complete Probate Bypass and Total Financial Privacy.

How it Works: Think of a trust as a private family vault. While you are alive, you own the vault and control everything inside it. If you pass away or become incapacitated, your chosen successor trustee steps into your shoes instantly, without having to ask a Virginia judge for permission. Because a trust operates entirely outside of the court system, your assets are passed to your loved ones immediately, quietly, and without the public disclosure of your family's net worth or private distribution wishes.

Understanding Your Documents

The Primary Benefit: Securing Guardianship and Directing Asset Distribution.

How it Works: A Will is your voice after you are gone. For parents of minor children in Northern Virginia, this is the only legal document where you can formally designate who will raise your children if the unexpected happens. It also appoints an Executor to oversee your final affairs. 

Note for homeowners: While a Will is an essential safety net, any asset passing strictly through a Will must still go through the public, multi-month Virginia probate court process before reaching your beneficiaries. This is why many home owners bridge their Will with a Living Trust.

Understanding Your Documents

The Primary Benefit: Immediate Incapacity Protection for Your Accounts and Assets.

How it Works: If an accident or sudden medical emergency leaves you unable to manage your finances, Virginia law does not automatically grant your spouse or family access to your individual bank accounts, mortgage documents, or retirement portfolios. Without this document, your family would be forced to endure a costly, public court battle to appoint a conservator just to pay your bills. A Durable Power of Attorney allows you to hand-select a trusted individual today who can step in seamlessly to manage your financial life the moment an emergency strikes.

Understanding Your Documents

The Primary Benefit: Locking in Your Medical Wishes and Giving Your Family the Legal Right to Talk to Your Doctors.

How it Works: This document ensures that if you are hospitalized and unable to speak for yourself, your doctors know exactly who is legally authorized to make medical choices on your behalf. It combines a healthcare proxy (naming your decision-maker) with a living will (outlining your specific desires regarding life-support and end-of-life care). It completely removes the crushing psychological burden of guesswork from your grieving spouse or family during a medical crisis.

Federal medical privacy laws (HIPAA) are incredibly strict. If you are admitted to a Northern Virginia hospital following an accident, doctors are legally prohibited from sharing your medical status, prognosis, or charts with anyone, including your spouse, parents, or adult children—unless you have signed a HIPAA release. This document tears down that wall of silence, ensuring your inner circle can communicate freely with medical staff during a crisis.

Understanding Your Documents

The Transfer on Death Deed

The Primary Benefit: Passing Your Real Estate Automatically Outside of Probate.

How it Works: In a high-value real estate market like NoVa, your home is likely your most significant investment. A Transfer on Death Deed acts like a beneficiary designation for your house, similar to naming a beneficiary on a life insurance policy. It allows you to maintain absolute ownership and control of your home while you are alive, but the moment you pass away, the property automatically and instantly transfers to your designated heirs, completely bypassing the probate court system.

The Trust Transfer Deed

The Primary Benefit: Legally "Locking" Your Property Safely Inside Your Trust.

How it Works: Creating a Revocable Living Trust is only the first step; a trust cannot protect assets that it does not officially own. To protect your home from probate court, your real estate must be formally transferred from your individual names into the name of your trust. This specialized deed updates the local county land records (such as Fairfax or Loudoun county) to reflect that your trust is the legal owner of the property. It completely secures the asset without affecting your current mortgage, property taxes, or primary residence tax exemptions.

Understanding Your Documents

The Prenuptial Agreement

The Primary Benefit: Establishing Rock-Solid Financial Clarity Before Marriage.

How it Works: A Prenuptial Agreement is a proactive financial blueprint designed before your wedding day. In a high-earning region rich with corporate equities, government pensions, pre-marital real estate, and family inheritances, this agreement allows couples to explicitly define what constitutes "separate property" versus "marital property." It protects your independent assets and business interests, shields you from a future partner’s pre-existing debts, and establishes clear, mutual expectations, ensuring your marriage begins with absolute transparency.

The Postnuptial Agreement

The Primary Benefit: Aligning and Protecting Assets After Marriage Has Begun.

How it Works: A Postnuptial Agreement achieves the same protective goals as a prenup, but it is drafted and executed after a couple is already legally married. It is an incredibly powerful tool for Northern Virginia couples who have experienced a significant change in circumstances—such as one spouse starting a business, receiving a substantial family inheritance, or purchasing investment real estate with separate funds. Virginia courts heavily scrutinize these documents, requiring a meticulous, transparent analysis of current marital assets to ensure the agreement remains legally unassailable.