Request quotes covering the actual arrangement, donor records, and tax questions. If the facts instead establish a loan, review also addresses repayment and any security; not every loan is secured. Costs depend on work required, not simply the instrument's title.
Pricing the choice before you sign the instrument
The decision between gift and loan is substantive, not cosmetic, and it changes both the evidence and the fees. Ask each professional to quote the deliverable rather than the hour where possible: the drafted instrument, the donor questionnaire, the translation of foreign sale documents. Escrow and project subscription terms may also carry charges, and those are set out in the documents rather than guessed at.
Decide on the structure before any funds move rather than after, since retroactively relabeling a completed transfer as a gift or a loan can raise more questions than the original transfer resolved. Ask each professional whether the chosen structure changes what the lawful-source documentation must show, because a donor's records and a lender's records answer different parts of that inquiry. Confirm in writing which party bears the cost of translating or authenticating foreign records tied to the transfer, since that task is sometimes assumed rather than assigned.
Keep the signed instrument, the transfer confirmation and any professional advice relied upon in one file, dated in the order they actually occurred.