Cute Story About A Pair of Elderly Clients.

I received a phone call today from a couple in their early eighties. Nice couple actually. I spoke to her and then he got on the phone. They wanted a durable power of attorney prepared.

They assured me that they already had their Wills and a Living Trust already prepared. I believe them as their property tax bill says that the owner of their property is their Living Trust.

She asked me how much it would be to have me prepare a Durable Power of Attorney. I gave them my best quote based on their referral source. I said $75 for two Durable Powers of Attorney and included two free notarizations of their signature ... and ... that I would make a home visit.

Home visit? Whoa!

Yeah, they lived one block over from me.  But that's not the cute part of the story.

The lady said to me over the phone in a high voice: SEVENTY FIVE DOLLARS????

After a pause on my end... I truly didn't know what to say -- so I said, " is that too high or too low?"  They were nice on the phone and I had to jump start the conversation again somehow.

She replied, "too high ... I should only pay $5 for a power of attorney."

That made me laugh! I said, you know what, I will prepare one for you for a lesser amount of money and we'll call it even. She agreed. The husband agreed later that they could have afforded to pay me more, but then I just said no -- just give me a referral to even it out someday. And we shook hands on that.

I am still smiling thinking about them. They made my day -- hard hagglers, them two.