How Much Does Estate Planning Cost for a Business Owner in Georgia?

What a Business Owner Estate Plan Costs in Georgia

The Hive Law charges flat fees for every component of a business owner estate plan. There is no hourly billing and no hidden charges. Below is every line item with its price.

County recording fees are not included. These are paid directly to the county and typically range from $25 to $75 per deed. We confirm the exact amount for your county before your plan is finalized.

Business valuations are not a legal fee. If you need a formal business valuation for your buy-sell agreement, that is a separate engagement with a certified business appraiser — typically $5,000 to $25,000 depending on business complexity. We refer you to qualified appraisers and coordinate the legal documents around their valuation.

Life insurance coordination is not a legal fee. Funding a buy-sell agreement with life insurance requires an insurance professional. We refer you to a licensed insurance broker and draft the legal documents that coordinate with the policy.

Use the calculator below to build your flat-fee estimate. Start with the base trust package, then add your entities and properties. The total updates as you go. Not sure what you need? See what each component includes ↓

What Each Component Includes

The Revocable Trust Package — $4,000

This is the foundation of every estate plan at The Hive Law, regardless of whether you own a business. It includes six documents:

• Revocable living trust — holds your assets outside of probate. When you die, your successor trustee distributes everything according to your instructions without court involvement.
• Pour-over will — catches any asset that was not moved into the trust before your death and directs it into the trust.
• Durable financial power of attorney — authorizes a person you choose to manage your personal finances if you become incapacitated. This is separate from your LLC operating agreement; your POA handles personal accounts, not business operations.
• Healthcare directive and living will — documents your medical wishes and authorizes someone to make healthcare decisions on your behalf.
• HIPAA release — allows your healthcare agent to access your medical records.
• One Georgia deed — transfers your primary home into the trust. This deed is prepared and recorded as part of the flat fee.

LLC Transfer — $1,250 per LLC

An LLC does not automatically flow into your trust. Transferring an LLC into a trust requires two things: updating the operating agreement to reflect the trust as the new member, and executing an assignment of membership interest. Without both, the LLC sits outside your trust and goes through probate as a separate asset.

The $1,250 fee covers the operating agreement amendment with death and incapacity succession provisions, the assignment of membership interest into the trust, and coordination with your business partner (if any) to ensure the transfer does not violate any existing operating agreement restrictions.

This applies to each LLC separately — your operating company, your holding company, your real estate LLC, and any others you own.

S-Corp Transfer — $1,750 per S-Corp

S-Corps require more work than LLCs to move into a trust. An S-Corp can only be held by certain types of trusts without losing the S-Corp tax election. A standard revocable living trust qualifies during your lifetime, but the documents must explicitly preserve the S-Corp election. The $1,750 fee covers the additional compliance steps that an LLC transfer does not require.

Buy-Sell Agreement — $550 per agreement

A buy-sell agreement controls what happens to your business interest when a trigger event occurs — your death, incapacity, divorce, bankruptcy, or voluntary exit. Without one, your business partner’s options are to negotiate with your estate (or your spouse, or your children) at a moment when no one is in a position to negotiate fairly.

The $550 fee covers drafting or reviewing a buy-sell agreement for one business. If you have two separate businesses with different partners, that is two buy-sell agreements.

Note: the buy-sell agreement specifies how the business interest will be valued at the trigger event. It does not perform the valuation. If your agreement calls for an independent appraisal at the trigger event, the appraisal cost is separate from the legal drafting fee.

Additional Georgia Properties — $550 per property

Each property outside your primary home requires a separate deed to be transferred into your trust. This includes rental properties, land you own, vacation homes, and commercial real estate titled in your personal name. Properties held inside an LLC do not need a separate deed — transferring the LLC into the trust covers the real estate inside it.

Out-of-State Properties — $1,100 per state

Real estate is governed by the laws of the state where it sits. If you own a vacation home in Florida and a rental in Tennessee, those properties need to be transferred using the deed rules of those states. The $1,100 per-state fee covers coordination with local counsel in each state to prepare and record a compliant deed.

How Entity Type Affects the Cost

The most common business owner scenarios at The Hive Law, and what they cost:

Sole proprietor with no business entity: Your business income flows through your personal return and your business assets are personal assets. A standard revocable trust package at $4,000 covers your situation. There is no LLC to transfer and no buy-sell to draft.

Single-member LLC owner: Trust package plus one LLC transfer. Total: $5,250. If you also have a rental property in Georgia, add $550 for the deed. Total: $5,800.

Multi-member LLC owner with a partner: Trust package, plus the LLC transfer, plus a buy-sell agreement. Total: $5,800. This is the most common scenario for business owners at The Hive Law.

S-Corp owner: Trust package plus one S-Corp transfer. Total: $5,750. The S-Corp transfer costs $500 more than an LLC transfer because of the additional IRS compliance requirements.

Business owner with a holding company structure (HoldCo + OpCo): Trust package, plus two LLC transfers. Total: $6,500. If the holding company also owns real estate, add $550 per Georgia property.

Business owner with multiple LLCs, rental properties, and a buy-sell: Trust package ($4,000) + two LLCs ($2,500) + two Georgia rentals ($1,100) + one buy-sell ($550). Total: $8,150.

What It Costs If You Do Nothing

Without a succession plan, your business goes through probate when you die. In Georgia, probate takes 9 to 18 months. During that time, no one has legal authority to run your business, sign contracts, pay employees, or sell assets — unless a court appoints someone, which takes additional months and costs additional money.

• Probate attorney fees: Georgia allows attorneys to charge a percentage of the gross estate — including the value of your business interest. On a business worth $800,000, that is $24,000 to $64,000 in attorney fees alone.
• Business disruption: A business generating $500,000 per year that loses key leadership for 12 months conservatively loses $100,000 to $200,000 in revenue due to operational disruption, client attrition, and forced decisions made under time pressure.
• Forced sale discount: A business sold during probate under court supervision typically sells for 30 to 50% below its going-concern value. On a $1,000,000 business, that is $300,000 to $500,000 left on the table.
• Business valuation ordered by the court: The probate court requires an inventory of the estate, including the business. A court-ordered business valuation costs $5,000 to $25,000 — paid from the frozen estate.
• Partner dispute litigation: Without a buy-sell agreement, the surviving partner negotiates with your grieving family at a moment when neither party has good leverage or good information. When those negotiations fail, litigation costs $50,000 to $250,000.

The total cost of doing nothing, on a business worth $1,000,000 with no succession plan, is realistically $400,000 to $800,000. The legal planning costs $4,000 to $9,000. The math is not complicated.

Can You Phase the Plan?

Yes. If the full cost of the plan is a concern, you can phase it. The most common phasing approach is:

Phase 1 — Personal estate plan: The revocable trust package ($4,000) covers you, your home, and your personal financial accounts. Your family is protected even if the business planning is not complete.

Phase 2 — Business entities and succession: Once Phase 1 is complete, add the LLC transfers, S-Corp transfers, and buy-sell agreements on a separate timeline.

There is no price difference between doing the plan in two phases versus doing it all at once. The flat-fee rates apply regardless of timing. The only cost of phasing is that your business remains unprotected during the gap between Phase 1 and Phase 2.

What Is Not Included in These Fees

• Business valuation: Determining what your business is worth for the purposes of a buy-sell agreement. This is a separate engagement with a certified appraiser.
• Life insurance: Funding a buy-sell agreement with life insurance requires an insurance broker, not a law firm. We refer you and coordinate the legal documents around the policy.
• Accounting and tax advice: We advise on the legal structure of your estate plan. Tax implications of entity transfers, gift strategies, and estate tax planning require a CPA or tax advisor working alongside your estate plan.
• Business formation: If you do not yet have an LLC or S-Corp and need one formed, that is a separate engagement from the estate planning work.
• County recording fees: Paid directly to the county when your deed is recorded. Typically $25 to $75 per deed.