And the really dedicated probate practitioners spend a few thousand each year for hours of continuing legal education.Can you narrow that down a bit?

Practitioners bill differently based on evaluation rating of patients 1-4.  

You’d need a lot of local knowledge from actual practitioners not investors or realtors.

You made the difficult decision to hire another practitioner.

I don't think there is any problem with retaining a life estate, but I would have a tax practitioner that specializes in Estate & Gift issues assist in making the relevant calculations and drafting the supporting documentation.

For instance, the cost to prepare a return for a single individual will be different than for a married individual with children, all else being equal.Other drivers are the cost of living where your CPA is located (CA CPAs are more expensive than AL CPAs), their practice's overhead, and the CPA's experience and knowledge level.I don't know of any practitioner who wouldn't charge for more states. 

@Salvatore Lentini,Regarding the REI education school I'm connected with, our instructors are not only "doing it", they are actual business people - practitioners.

I'm guessing he is not an real estate attorney, but a general practitioner with maybe a partial RE focus?  

Then I'd be glad to have him gone and focus on the next tenant...If he really damaged the place (and you know from my application he has some financial means), then you may want to have a landlord tenant lawyer or general practitioner look at the exact next steps for the eviction or civil lawsuit.

Our "regular jobs" are nurse practitioner and user experience designer.