Pricing · Published · Kentucky

Flat fees.Published.Honored.

Johnson Legal PLLC publishes concrete flat fees for the matters the firm handles most. You see the price before you call. The engagement letter quotes it in writing before any work begins. No hourly billing on the items below.

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JL Direct · Attorney-led work

JL Direct flat fees.

These are the matters Johnson Legal PLLC handles directly under attorney-led custom drafting. Each price reflects the eight-factor reasonableness analysis of SCR 3.130(1.5)(a) applied to the specific service. Where complexity scales the fee, the engagement letter names the tier and the scope before work begins.

How the three tiers work. Each row below is annotated with the tier the engagement falls under:

Tier 1 · Cornerstone catalog — fixed flat fee, attorney-reviewed, AI-assisted drafting on template-driven Kentucky documents (will, POA, healthcare directive, TOD deed, revocable trust). Delivered through the Bluegrass Cornerstone storefront.
Tier 2 · JL Direct standard — attorney-led custom drafting with a published flat fee. Engagement letter scopes the matter; the firm drafts to your facts.
Tier 3 · JL Direct complex — attorney-supervised drafting plus an in-firm execution session. Used for instruments where signing-ceremony formality and witness/notary coordination materially reduce post-execution challenge risk.

Why these prices? → Honest about the math behind a second-career practice.

LLC formation — $299 base / $499 full. (JL Direct · Tier 2)

$299 base: Articles of Organization (KRS 275.025) drafted and filed with the Kentucky Secretary of State; EIN registration with IRS; Kentucky annual-report calendar setup. State filing fees paid separately by the client.

$499 full: Everything in base, plus a custom Operating Agreement drafted under the Kentucky LLC Act (KRS Chapter 275) — single-member or multi-member, with capital contributions, distributions, management form, transfer restrictions, member-liability/indemnification, and dissolution mechanics tailored to your specific business.

KRS Chapter 275 · Kentucky Limited Liability Company Act

Commercial lease drafting and review — $999 baseline / $1,999 complex. (JL Direct · Tier 2)

$999 baseline: Single-tenant commercial lease drafting OR landlord/tenant-side review of counterparty draft (3-5 year term, single property, standard provisions).

$1,999 complex: Multi-tenant build-out, percentage rent, CAM allocation, complex assignment/sublet/right-of-first-refusal, operating expense reconciliation, and multiple amendment cycles.

Commercial leases operate under Kentucky common-law contract principles. Residential leases under the Kentucky URLTA (KRS 383.500-705 in adopting jurisdictions) are separately scoped.

KRS Chapter 383 · Kentucky common-law contract

Uncontested probate — $1,500 baseline / $3,000 complex. (JL Direct · Tier 2)

$1,500 baseline: Simple uncontested probate, single executor, modest estate (under $200K), no real-property transfers, no will contests, no minor heirs.

$3,000 complex: Multi-property estate, multiple beneficiaries, executor coordination across out-of-state assets, federal estate-tax preparation if estate exceeds federal threshold.

Court filing fees, appraiser fees, surety bond premiums, and publication costs paid separately by the estate.

KRS Chapter 395 · Kentucky probate procedure

Demand letter — $199. (JL Direct · Tier 2)

Single pre-suit demand letter (breach of contract, unpaid invoice, security deposit recovery, tort pre-suit). Includes legal-claim assessment, statute-of-limitations check, damages quantification, and settlement-frame analysis.

Not included: Filing suit if non-response (separate engagement). Extended negotiation cycles beyond two follow-ups (re-engaged at hourly).

Buy-sell agreement — $599 baseline / $1,299 complex. (JL Direct · Tier 2)

$599 baseline: Simple two-member LLC buy-sell, single triggering event (death OR disability), fixed-price valuation.

$1,299 complex: Multi-member buy-sell, multiple triggering events (death/disability/withdrawal/termination/divorce), valuation formula (book value, multiple-of-EBITDA, or independent appraisal), funding mechanism (life insurance), tag-along/drag-along rights, ROFR.

KRS Chapter 275 · Kentucky LLC contract law

Scope: LLC-context only. Corporate shareholder buy-sell under the Kentucky Business Corporation Act (KRS 271B) is priced separately under engagement-letter amendment.

Complex trust — $1,099 all-in. (JL Direct · Tier 3 attorney-supervised)

$799 drafting plus $300 attorney-supervised execution session. Covers irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT), special-needs trust (third-party or first-party with court petition), generation-skipping/dynasty trust, charitable remainder/lead trust, and qualified personal residence trust (QPRT). Multi-trust packages priced separately.

The vanilla revocable living trust ($699 all-in) is handled through our Bluegrass Cornerstone catalog — see the bottom of this page.

KRS Chapter 386B · Kentucky Uniform Trust Code

Scope: Medicaid-asset-protection-trust matters are scoped against 42 USC 1396p (federal Medicaid look-back) only. Kentucky public-assistance and Medicaid-eligibility framework analysis (KRS Chapter 205) may require engagement-letter amendment.

Bluegrass Cornerstone DBA · Document storefront

Cornerstone catalog — fixed flat fees for template-driven Kentucky documents.

For routine, template-driven Kentucky legal documents, the firm runs a separately-branded storefront — Bluegrass Cornerstone. The catalog handles wills, durable powers of attorney, advance directives, transfer-on-death deeds, revocable living trusts, healthcare powers of attorney, HIPAA authorizations. Sub-market pricing because AI-assisted drafting reduces the time the lawyer spends drafting from blank page on template-driven documents. Same Kentucky lawyer reviews every Cornerstone document before delivery.

Representative catalog prices (all Tier 1 · Cornerstone catalog):

Will — $99 (Cornerstone catalog · Tier 1; KRS 394.040 + 394.225 self-proving)
Revocable living trust — $699 all-in ($399 drafting + $300 execution session) (Cornerstone catalog · Tier 1 with execution session)
Transfer-on-death deed — $99 (Cornerstone catalog · Tier 1; KRS 391.360 + 381.040; Howell v. Herald format)
Durable power of attorney — $79 (Cornerstone catalog · Tier 1; KRS 457.420 statutory short form)
Healthcare power of attorney — $59 (Cornerstone catalog · Tier 1; KRS 311.629)
Living will / advance directive — $69 (Cornerstone catalog · Tier 1; KRS 311.625)

See full Cornerstone catalog at bluegrasscornerstone.com →

What's not included

Costs paid by the client, separately.

Flat fees cover the firm's legal-services work. They do not cover third-party costs that vary by matter: county-clerk recording fees, court filing fees, surety bond premiums, appraiser fees, accountant or tax-preparer fees, publication costs, title-search fees paid to the clerk's office, state entity filing fees (KRS 275.025 and similar), and any required notary fees beyond the in-firm signings. The engagement letter lists the anticipated third-party costs and how they are paid.

How a flat-fee quote works

In writing. Before the work.

Every flat fee is quoted in writing in the engagement letter before the firm starts work. The letter names the matter, the scope covered by the fee, what is excluded, the third-party costs the client pays directly, and the schedule on which the firm will report progress.

You pay when the work is delivered, not before, not after. Under Kentucky Rule 1.5(f), the flat fee is earned on receipt — the firm holds client funds in IOLTA only when an engagement specifies escrow rather than flat fee.

If the matter materially changes scope mid-engagement, the firm proposes a written amendment to the engagement letter rather than billing additional time. Your authorization is required before the expanded scope begins.

AI assists with drafting, research, and summarization on Kentucky matters under KBA Ethics Opinion E-457 (March 15, 2024) and the Rules of Professional Conduct it cites — SCR 3.130 (1.1) (1.4) (1.5)(a) and (b) (1.6) (5.1)(b) and (8.4). You can decline AI use on your matter at any time; that does not change the published flat fee.

Compliance reference: SCR 3.130(7.10), (7.15), (7.20)(3), (1.5)(a) and AAC Regulation 1.

Schedule a scoping call

Or book directly

Free 20-minute scoping call.

Schedule a free 20-minute scoping call. We use this call to confirm Johnson Legal PLLC can take your matter and to give you a written flat-fee quote for the work.

Note: Calendly is used for scheduling only and is not a secure channel for client-matter PHI or privileged communication. For privileged client communications, use the secure portal sent in your engagement letter.