Common Estate Planning Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

BUYER BEWARE: DO-IT-YOURSELF ESTATE PLANNING IS SIMPLY NOT A GOOD IDEA.

The proliferation of internet marketing and the recent sophistication of internet software has contributed to a tremendous increase in recent years in homegrown estate planning.  Legal Zoom and Rocket Lawyer are two prime examples of this phenomenon. 

These mass marketers of legal services are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not much more, on advertising campaigns designed specifically to convince the general public that they do not need to consult with an attorney either to formulate and effective estate plan or to undertake a number of other services typically provided by a lawyer.  These glossy high profile advertising campaigns often misinform people into thinking that they are saving money and that they are receiving sound legal advice. Unfortunately, that is typically not the case.

Most do-it-yourself companies provide little beyond a review to make sure that you have completed all of the answers in their online questionnaires and that the names and other information that you have provided are spelled correctly.  Namely, they are simply proofreading your data entries.  Their involvement has to be limited in this manner by law since all of their marketing and advertising stresses and emphasizes that they are not providing any kind of legal advice and that no actual attorneys will be involved in the document preparation process.  The people that work on the documents that will ultimately be delivered to you are not attorneys.  They cannot, by law, give or provide you with any kind of legal advice. If the document preparation process were to become too consumer interactive, the do-it-yourself companies would be committing the unauthorized practice of law and they therefore would be become subject to various state fines, penalties and sanctions.

How can this provide the end-user of such do-it-yourself companies with the confidence that their estate-planning documents are both legally binding and appropriate to their family’s particular circumstances and legal needs? Estate planning and probate estate administration laws are strict and unforgiving. Good estate planning attorneys will work diligently with their clients to keep them abreast of any changes in the law that could negatively affect their present estate plans.  Creating your own estate plan can provide you with a false sense of security.  Often, the inaccuracies and mistakes contained in such plans are not discovered until after a person’s death.  At that point, it will be too late to do anything about them and the harm will already have been done.

Most people need the perspective that an impartial, experienced estate planning attorney can provide.  Most importantly, you can typically consult with and have such an experienced attorney prepare your estate plan for at or around the same cost that you would otherwise incur in trying to do it yourself online.  Remember, you are playing with fire when you engage the services of these do-it-yourself law companies for the following, although far from all inclusive, reasons:

• Such companies largely disregard the specific laws of your specific state which could dramatically affect your estate;
• Your family’s unique issues and circumstances can only be flushed out and addressed by meeting and consulting with an experienced estate planning attorney; and
• You will receive no guarantees and/or assurances from these companies that the documents that they are providing are either tailored to the laws of your particular state or to your family’s particular needs.  

Due to the above concerns, in 2011 the American Bar Association Trust & Estate Law Section commenced a task force to discuss steps that might be implemented to educate the public as to the risks associated with do-it-yourself estate planning. The task force believes that educating the public is an important first step, as those who typically use do-it-yourself services may be lulled into a false sense of security if they believe their own amateur planning addresses all their family’s particular needs.

Call us today to schedule your free legal consultation with one of our professional and experienced estate planning attorneys.  Remember, be safe not sorry.  Protect your family today.