ESTATE PLANNING? NAH, I'll DIYit FOR A FRACTION OF WHAT A LAWYER MAY CHARGE!

So you know you need an estate plan. You've been hearing about its importance for some time already. Since you've been doing your taxes yourself online, you figure you may also do your estate plan online as well. You google around and learn that a multitude of well-designed and attractive websites allow you to do the plan by yourself for a fraction of what a lawyer may charge you. Simple wills, for example, are often priced under $50, and you can complete and print them out in a matter of minutes. So you sign up, plug in your family information, print the forms out, and get your notary friend to stamp whatever formalities are needed. Now you can check that box in your to-do list and not worry about this again. Right? Nope.

You see, while you may feel good for not having to worry about estate planning anymore, chances are you may have a false sense of security. Actually, a flawed estate plan may be worse than having none. Let me explain:

1. Doing your own estate plan is akin to cutting your own hair, only with far worse consequences. You can sit in front of a mirror with scissors in hand, but regardless of how careful you are, chances are you will end up with a crooked haircut unless of course you are bald. Similarly, unless estate planning is your day job, you may be unaware of what you are getting your family into. Even if you think you have a simple situation, that’s almost never the case. Whether you only need a will or also a trust, and what kind of trust it should be, are decisions that need to be fully informed. You may be unaware of pitfalls and shortcomings that may be laying below the surface and that could end up costing your family more money and headache than if you’d never gotten around to doing anything at all.
2. Those who go it alone often are under the misconception that this is a one time event; no need to worry about estate planning again. Maybe they commit to revisit and update the plan in the future with something better, but chances are, having done “something” will lead them to put this off until it’s too late. By doing nothing, on the other hand, at least they won’t be lulled into a false sense of security, and estate planning will still be at the top of their life’s to-do list, as it should be until they handle it properly.
3. Unlike tax returns, where we all need to file the same 1040 form, estate planning is one of the most personal and trascendental steps a family takes. Everything needs to be considered - and I mean everything. From the stability of relationships, to asset footprint, and everything in between including behaviors of loved ones, and intangibles such as hopes, dreams, life lessons and bedrock principles. Even spiritual and religious considerations play an important role in drafting an estate plan. No two trusts or wills are identical, at least well-drafted ones. A one-size-fits-all approach based on cookie-cutter online questionnaires can't even start to capture all the nuances of your family dynamics and circumstances. As such, an online DIY estate plan can end up looking like an inartful paint-by-numbers attempt to draw your family canvass. More disturbingly, though, the lack of nuance often surfaces when it is already too late to correct (once incapacity of death happen), hurting rather than helping your loved ones.
4. When you DIY your estate plan, you are literally on you own during and after you assemble the documents. Why does that matter? I'ts up to you to ensure the documents meet all the necessary formalities customarily required by financial entities and other third parties. To the untrained eye this could be unimportant, but you would be surprised to learn how meticulous and unforgiving certain courts and entities are before recognizing a document. Unless you are a compliance officer, chances are you are unfamiliar with what banks accept and what they don't: all "i's" must be dotted and all "t's" must be crossed. Even more so when a last will and testament is probated in court: Though wills created with an attorney’s guidance can also be contested, DIY wills are not only far more likely to be challenged, but the chances of those challenges being successful are much greater than if you have an attorney-drafted will. And then it won't be you, but your loved ones who will be helplessly staring at the shortcomings you created in the documents you DIYed.
5. Connected with the previous point of figuring out by yourself how an estate plan should be implemented, those who go it alone may believe that once the documents are signed, witnessed and notarized they can check the box of their to-do list and move on with their lives. Without further guidance from a professional they may miss probably the most important step in the implementation of the plan: funding. Here's the thing - if you don't re-title your assets to the trust you just drafted, the trust is not worth the paper it was printed on. Instead, you need to inventory your assets and decide which ones are worth protecting by the trust and which ones are not. Then you need to reach out to all custodians of these assets and request these be recorded accordingly. Without support from a professional, forms can be improperly filed and assets can be mishandled.

Look, I get it. I'm a big DIY myself -- my favorite pastime is shopping at the hardware store so I can fix stuff around my house. But even hard-core DIYers need to be aware of their limitations, otherwise they get burned. The consequences of a poorly done estate plan can throw your family into a painful turmoil that often ends in conflict -- the very thing you meant to spare them from in the first place. And in doing so, any potential savings you may have pocketed now will pale compared to the expenses your loved ones will need to incur later on.

Protecting family and legacy in the event of death or incapacity goes to the core of who we are and you should never consider winging it with a DIY plan. Regardless of how simple you believe your family circumstances are, or how little wealth you own, the potentially disastrous consequences inherent in such plans are simply too great.

Want to know more? Contact us today at [email protected] to schedule a conversation. While every situation is different, we can help you determine what estate plan is right for you.