Imagine a family that is in their early 30s with two children under 10, a house loan and maybe a bit of work on the side. If the parents were to die tonight, who would raise the children? Who gets the house? Who's in charge of their accounts while their estate is being probated?

They don’t have a plan for what becomes of their assets after they die. Not because they’re not concerned but because no one has served them.

It’s something that I think about a lot, and it’s the middle of an issue legal professionals have opted to ignore. BigLaw has now determined that they will have to pick and choose their clients and charge on an hourly basis to cover their six-figure overheads. Constant routine document checks, associate time billables and high rates have decided that a certain portion of the American population isn’t their target audience.

A simple will and trust package at a large law firm can run $10,000 to $15,000. For the family in that scenario, that’s maybe two months of mortgage payments just to get a document signed.

So where do those families go?

Most of them wind up on DIY websites, hoping that the templates will fit their lives. Some of them don’t do anything. And neither of these options is the right way to go about estate planning. While do-it-yourself platforms are designed for straightforward, standard circumstances, they are typically a fairly conservative form of the American family—two partners, U.S.-based holdings and no complications. That’s not the kind of family you’ll find in real life. Some have a blended family structure or multigenerational houses with religious considerations around their estate plans, which aren’t addressed with a template PDF.

BigLaw will stay away from them.

The actual work is not nearly as complicated or involved as the bill may make it sound. A will, a revocable living trust, a durable power of attorney and an advance directive are the basic estate planning documents. For an experienced estate planning lawyer, creating these documents is no big deal.

The cost is not typically due to the legal work. It’s the delivery model that’s behind it. Many firms put partner-level lawyers to work on tasks that don’t need partner-level involvement. The traditional hour rate models incentivize time spent—not efficiency. Administrative layers, old-fashioned processes and institutional inefficiencies are sold as sophistication and shifted to the client.

The outcome is a system that causes many families to pay more than they can afford and millions of families not to plan for their estates. This isn’t a complexity problem, rather an access issue.

But those slipping through this gap are not a small and niche group of people.

They are parents in their 30s and 40s with the most at stake and are most likely to have trouble getting affordable legal help. Or small business owners—with $1 million, a few staff members and no succession plan. Their situations are too significant to be handled with a do-it-yourself approach, but BigLaw is often out of budget.

That was a group that wasn’t on BigLaw’s radar.

Estate planning is all about getting to know a client’s life, values and fears—related to the financial safety of their loved ones. That takes time, investment, follow-ups and a lawyer who will stop by when life happens. The BigLaw business model simply can’t afford to offer such services. Clients do not call when all the communications are charged at $400 per hour. They stop updating. The plan becomes stale and a problem waiting to happen.

Whether it’s solo practices or small firms, there’s always been a dichotomy between relationship building and billables. The working family estate planning attorney isn’t taking any shortcuts. They are working diligently to operate at an economic and efficient level. They’re acquiring clients that BigLaw is not doing, thus doing real work at the community level.

Access to justice for ordinary families is real, and it’s not just limited to criminal defense or family court. It operates through estate planning and other legal services. The Legal Services Corp. has reported a number of times the lack of, or inadequate, legal assistance for low- and moderate-income families in America. Estate planning is one of the most common unmet legal needs in America throughout the years. But overall the profession has reacted by trying to preserve financial structures and partner interest.

The legal profession is not only required to be efficient here but also has a duty to be efficient. If the professional services are out of budget for ordinary families, these families are not just inconvenienced, they are also left in the dark. Their children have to contend with the uncertainty of guardianship. Their assets are subject to probate when there is no need. They don’t pass their business on to the next successor but rather shut down due to a lack of succession planning.

I live in Michigan. and I see this every week. My office receives its clients after the death of a parent without a will, to help sort out an estate, which could have been tidied up years ago by a simple will.

Families who are in dispute because no one ever made a record of what the deceased wanted. Owners who invested years and years into building up a business without ever taking the time to safeguard it.

The way forward is flat-fee pricing that reflects the value and actual cost of delivering work. It’s just being consistent with each client but treating them on a case-by-case basis. Because a family with a $3 million portfolio is no less than a family with $300,000 worth of assets.

The law firms that grasp flat-fee pricing will establish practices that attract clients and develop a sustainable revenue stream while retaining clients. The ones who don’t will continue to lose customers to platforms that provide do-it-yourself services.

Mohamed Murshed is the founder and managing member of the People’s Firm, a Michigan-wide estate planning law firm.

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