When it Comes to Your Will, Don’t Do It Yourself

A will is one of those documents that everyone should have, which is why there are literally thousands of services that sell do-it-yourself (DIY) wills. These services are especially attractive to individuals who do not believe that their estate is particularly complicated. The problem is that it is a very rare estate that is truly uncomplicated. Most estates are probably still complicated enough to require some actual legal assistance, especially if there are additional documents that need to be drafted such as powers of attorney or trusts.

For estate planning purposes, the truly uncomplicated estate is likely one with very few assets, no real property, and few heirs. Any number of factors can, alone or in combination, can make an estate “complicated” for purposes of planning. For example, complex family structures such as blended families or situations where the maker of the will wishes to specifically exclude a child or other heir have enough issues and possible traps to make it worth engaging an attorney who is familiar with estate planning to help craft a solution.

Similarly, estates with significant assets such as real property, ownership interests in a business, insurance policies, and retirement accounts need the knowledge and expertise of an estate-planning attorney to ensure not only that the assets are properly distributed, but that the distribution results in as low a tax burden on the heirs as possible. Trusts, especially living trusts, are a great mechanism to meet both of these goals, but they are complex and require a skilled professional attorney who understands your particular situation and assets as well as the most current law to create them.

Another excellent reason to avoid DIY wills, trusts, and other legal documents is that while they may save you some time and money on the front end, your loved ones will end up paying to work through the issues that were left undone or done incorrectly in these documents. This situation can arise in numerous ways including failing to designate a contingent executor or beneficiary or lack of knowledge about specific state laws that may be applicable to the estate which require certain actions.

Since DIY documents are more likely to have mistakes, and in some cases, have truly significant defects, the chance that they will be challenged in court by disgruntled heirs or creditors is high. The chance that those challenges will be upheld is possibly even higher since there is no way to correct a significant error in an estate document once the maker is deceased. So, again, the burden will fall on the heirs and, in extreme cases with litigation, the entire value of the estate could be reduced due to attorney’s fees and costs. The cost of consulting with an experienced estate planning attorney to draft these documents is very small in comparison to the possible litigation costs from DIY estate documents.

Even though there are numerous websites offering tips and information on estate planning, none can analyze your particular situation and determine what is appropriate for your circumstances, needs, and plans for disposition of your estate. There is no app for this and the companies that sell DIY forms will be the first to display a prominent disclaimer that they are not in the business of giving legal advice. Estate planning is extremely fact specific and requires someone who understands how it works to ask the right questions to elicit all of the facts necessary to draft an estate plan.