The Bowman Law Firm

Individual: $750* 

Married Couple: $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
• A Folder with Your Original Signed Documents
• Electronic Copies of Your Signed Documents

*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.

Individual: $1,500* 

Married Couple: $1,950*

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
• A Professionally Organized Binder with Your Original Signed Documents
• Electronic Copies of Your Signed Documents
• Essential Care included for the first year*

*It’s important to note that a will does not avoid probate. In Virginia, probate can involve additional time, cost, and administrative steps. For some families, a will-based plan can be paired with a Transfer on Death Deed for a home, and updated beneficiary designations for financial accounts, to help most assets pass outside of probate.

*At the end of the included period, Essential Care continues for annual membership cycles unless you choose another membership level or cancel future service.  The annual membership price is billed in monthly installments after each month of membership service.  We will send you advance notice before the first paid month and before any material price or service change.

Individual: $2,500* 

Married Couple: $3,250*

A good fit for homeowners, families with minor children, and clients who want added privacy and continuity.

A living trust 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
• Trust Funding Coordination and Asset Guidance
• A Professionally Organized Binder with Your Original Signed Documents
• Electronic Copies of Your Signed Documents
• Trust Care included for the first year*

*Additional planning may be recommended for unusual complexity, additional real estate, out-of-state property, tax concerns, or other customized planning needs.  Any additional investment will be discussed with you before work begins.

*At the end of the included period, Trust Care continues for annual membership cycles unless you choose another membership level or cancel future service.  The annual membership price is billed in monthly installments after each month of membership service.  We will send you advance notice before the first paid month and before any material price or service change.

Individual: $3,500*

Married; Joint Trust: $4,500*

Married; Coordinated Trusts: $5,250*

A good fit for individuals and couples who want more long-term protection for children or other beneficiaries, greater flexibility for future family changes, and more sophisticated trust planning.

This plan includes the same core documents and benefits as the Simple Living Trust Plan, with a more detailed trust structure designed to protect intended inheritances and adapt to changing family, financial, and tax circumstances.

The Individual Family Protection Trust Plan is good fit for an individual who wants to provide for a current spouse while preserving a clear inheritance for adult children or other beneficiaries—often in a second or later marriage where the client owns most or all of the couple’s assets.

The trust can create a protected marital share for the spouse after the client’s death, while directing a separate share outright or in further trust for adult children or other beneficiaries. This allows the spouse to be supported without requiring the client to leave the entire estate under the spouse’s control or rely on the spouse’s later estate plan to preserve the children’s inheritance.

The Married Family Protection Joint Trust Plan is a good fit for married couples with mostly jointly owned assets who want one coordinated trust during life that can divide into survivor, marital, and Family Trust shares after the first spouse dies.

The Married Family Protection Coordinated Trusts Plan is a good fit for married couples with substantial separate assets, unequal wealth, inherited or premarital property, business interests, blended-family considerations, or anticipated lifetime tax-planning and gifting strategies. Includes two coordinated revocable trusts designed to work together at the first death.

What’s Included:

• Everything in the Simple Living Trust Plan
• One advanced revocable trust for an individual, one joint trust for a married couple with joint assets, or two coordinated trusts for a married couple with significant separate-planning needs
• Long-term trust planning for children or other beneficiaries
• Added protection for intended inheritances
• More detailed trustee, successor-trustee, and distribution provisions
• Flexibility for federal transfer-tax, basis, and beneficiary-protection planning when appropriate
• For married clients: survivor, marital/QTIP, Family/Credit-Shelter, disclaimer, and portability planning alternatives
• Legacy Care included for the first year*

*Additional planning may be recommended for special-needs planning, significant tax planning, business ownership, lifetime irrevocable trusts, SLATs, completed-gift planning, Form 709 preparation, GST-exemption allocation, additional real estate, out-of-state property, charitable planning, or other unusual complexity. Any additional investment will be discussed with you before work begins.

*At the end of the included period,  Legacy Care continues for annual membership cycles unless you choose another membership level or cancel future service.  The annual membership price is billed in monthly installments after each month of membership service.  We will send you advance notice before the first paid month and before any material price or service change.

Starting at $1,000*

*Additional Fee applied to the cost of your Simple Living Trust Plan or Family Protection Trust Plan.

If you own an LLC, corporation, or other business entity, separate planning may be needed to coordinate ownership, successor management, transfer restrictions, and your estate plan.  The cost depends on the number of entities, number of owners, and the condition of the business records, not on whether the entity operates a business or owns rental or investment property.

Typical Starting Fees:

• One single-member LLC: additional fee of $1,000
• One single-owner entity with S-corporation tax treatment: additional fee of $1,250
• One LLC jointly owned by spouses: additional fee of $1,250
• One LLC with one other, non-spouse member: additional fee of $1,750
• Entity with three or more owners: starting at $2,000
• Two commonly owned entities: starting at $2,000, plus $750 for each additional entity

What May Be Included:

• Review of available ownership and governing records
• Coordination of trust ownership and transfer restrictions
• Successor-management and incapacity planning
• Routine documents needed to implement the agreed plan
• An updated ownership ledger, when appropriate

*A separate quote is required for layered ownership, entity restructuring, significant operating-agreement or bylaw revisions, third-party or lender consents, incomplete or disputed ownership records, extensive buy-sell planning, out-of-state entity coordination, or other unusual ownership or transfer issues.

*Business succession fees are in addition to the applicable estate-planning fee and assume organized records and routine implementation.  Tax advice, tax-return preparation, and S-corporation election filings are not included.  Negotiation with non-client owners, their counsel, lenders, or accountants is not included unless stated in the engagement agreement.  We will discuss the scope of work and any additional fee with you before beginning work.

Flat Fee: $500* 

A simple way to help your home pass to the people you choose without probate.

A Virginia Transfer on Death Deed lets you name who should receive your home after you die, while you keep full ownership and control during your lifetime.  It can be a practical, lower-cost option for homeowners with a straightforward estate plan who want to help their home pass outside of probate without creating a revocable living trust.

What’s Included:

• Custom Virginia Transfer on Death Deed for one property

• Review of your current deed and property information

• Coordination with your beneficiary designations and estate planning goals

• Signing and notarization instructions

• Electronic recording, if available

• All local county recording taxes, technology fees, and electronic clerk filing surcharges
• An electronic copy of your recorded deed

Is a Transfer on Death Deed right for you?

A Transfer on Death Deed may be a good fit if you own a Virginia home, want to keep full control of it during your lifetime, and want it to pass directly to your chosen beneficiaries after your death.  It is often paired with a will-based estate plan and coordinated beneficiary designations for financial accounts.

It is not a substitute for a complete estate plan.  A trust-based plan may be a better fit if you need planning for minor children, blended-family concerns, disability or special-needs planning, multiple properties, business interests, or more detailed instructions for beneficiaries.

*Pricing applies to one Virginia property.  Title problems, lender issues, tax advice, more complex planning, or additional coordination may require an additional fee.  A Transfer on Death Deed must be properly signed and recorded during your lifetime to be effective.

Flat Fees are quoted after an initial discussion of your goals, assets, and the planning involved.

Some planning needs go beyond a standard will or living trust. The Bowman Law Firm provides focused guidance for clients whose circumstances call for additional planning, coordination, or document preparation.

Medicaid Asset Protection Trust

For clients concerned about the cost of future long-term care, Medicaid asset-protection planning can help identify planning options, timing considerations, and the effect of proposed transfers or trust planning. This work is tailored to your family, assets, health needs, and goals; it is not a one-size-fits-all plan.

Tax Planning Trust

For higher-net-worth individuals and families, irrevocable trust planning can help move future growth outside a taxable estate, make lifetime gifts, protect assets for children and future generations, or provide for a spouse. Depending on your goals, planning may include a Spousal Lifetime Access Trust, an irrevocable family trust, life-insurance trust, or another tailored strategy. We begin by reviewing your family, assets, existing plan, and objectives before recommending whether this type of planning is appropriate.

Marital Property Agreement

A marital property agreement can help spouses clarify how property will be owned, managed, or treated at death. It may be useful when spouses bring separate assets to the marriage, have children from prior relationships, want to coordinate property ownership with their estate plan, or want greater clarity about their financial arrangements.

Virginia Deed Services

We prepare deeds for estate-planning and ownership changes, including trust-transfer deeds, corrective deeds, and deeds needed to change or clarify ownership. We will first discuss the purpose of the transfer and whether it fits your larger estate plan before preparing the deed.

Fees

Fees for specialized planning are quoted as flat fees after an initial discussion of your goals and the documents or property involved. The fee depends on the type of planning, the number of people and assets involved, the condition of existing documents, the complexity of any trust or tax planning, and the level of coordination or document preparation required. 

*Before any work begins, you will receive a clear scope of services, a flat-fee quote, and an engagement agreement.  We explain the available options in plain English and help you determine whether additional planning is appropriate for your goals.

Flat Fee: $500* 

For older estate plans, out-of-state documents, or significant changes in your life or family.

An Estate Plan Review is a focused, high-level review of the estate-planning documents you provide. It is designed to help you confirm the people named to act for you, the people or organizations named to receive your property, and whether your documents appear to need updating because of changes in your circumstances or Virginia law.

What's Included:

• Review of the core estate-planning documents you provide, such as your will, trust, financial power of attorney, and advance medical directive

• High-level confirmation of the fiduciaries, beneficiaries, and key distribution provisions identified in those documents

• Identification of provisions that may warrant updating because of material life changes or relevant changes in Virginia law

• Practical recommendations about whether to keep, update, replace, or discuss your plan further

• A clear flat-fee quote and updated engagement agreement before any additional work begins

This service is a broad-strokes review, not a comprehensive audit of every asset, account, deed, beneficiary designation, or planning issue. Any detailed analysis, document revision, deed work, beneficiary-designation review, or other additional planning will be discussed with you and separately scoped before work begins.

If you decide to move forward with recommended updates within 30 days, $250 will be credited toward the legal fee for those updates.

*If updates are recommended, you will receive a clear flat-fee quote and updated engagement agreement before any additional work begins.

Essential Care

Individual: $295 per year*

Married Couple: $395 per year*

*Billed in 12 monthly installments after each month of membership service.

A good fit for Lifetime Decision-Making and Will-Based Estate Plan clients.

• Annual check-in questionnaire and 30-minute attorney review meeting

• Secure electronic access to your estate-planning documents

• Annual reminders to review fiduciaries, beneficiaries, asset ownership, and major life changes

• One routine update each membership year to a power of attorney, advance medical directive, HIPAA authorization, or similar lifetime document

• Priority scheduling and 10% savings on eligible additional estate-planning updates

• Included for one year with a Will-Based Plan

Trust Care

Individual: $495 per year*

Married Couple: $595 per year*

*Billed in 12 monthly installments after each month of membership service.

A good fit for clients with a Simple Living Trust Plan, Family Protection Trust Plan, or other Specialized Trust Plan.

• Everything in Essential Care

• Annual 45 minute trust and estate-plan review

• One simple estate-plan update each membership year

• Annual trust-funding, asset-title, and beneficiary-designation checklist

• Review of one proposed routine asset-title or beneficiary-designation change before you implement it

• Priority scheduling and 15% savings on eligible additional estate-planning updates

• Included for one year with a Simple Living Trust Plan

Legacy Care

Individual: $695 per year*

Married Couple: $795 per year*

*Billed in 12 monthly installments after each month of membership service.

A good fit for clients with a Simple Living Trust Plan, Family Protection Trust Plan, or other Specialized Trust Plan.

• Everything in Trust Care

• Annual 60 minute attorney, family, fiduciary, or financial-advisor meeting

• Up to two simple estate-plan updates each membership year

• Annual trust-funding, asset-title, and beneficiary-designation review

• Annual irrevocable trust coordination check-in, if applicable

• One preliminary review of a proposed contribution to an existing irrevocable trust, if applicable

• A $350 annual credit toward one routine deed

• Priority scheduling and 20% savings on eligible additional estate-planning updates

• Included for one year with a Family Protection Trust Plan

*Membership provides defined maintenance and update support; it is not unlimited legal representation.  New estate plans, trust restatements or restructuring, deeds beyond the stated Legacy Care credit, probate, trust administration, Medicaid applications, business succession, tax planning, and other complex legal work are not included and may require a separate engagement.  Irrevocable trust coordination is limited to high-level review and issue-spotting.

*Your original signed documents remain yours.  The membership includes secure electronic access and ongoing maintenance support.  If you do not continue your membership, you may request a copy of your existing documents, but you will no longer receive ongoing review, storage access, update benefits, reminders or membership pricing.

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.