DIY Estate Planning - Is It Worth The Risk?

Because there are many cheap legal resources online that allow you to create DIY will and trust documents, you may be compelled to go at it alone. Yet, you must be aware of the fact that a poorly executed estate plan can create many problems for your family after you’re gone. 

Estate planning is a complex legal field, and in order to be valid, all the documents need to follow exact procedures that are sometimes very tough to comprehend for those who didn’t go to law school. 

In today’s article, we’ll take a more in-depth look at DIY estate planning and its many risks. 

Risks of DIY Estate Planning

For the sake of objectivity, we need to say that the only good thing about DIY will and trust documentation is the fact that you can save money. However, while ridiculously cheap to produce, each estate is different and a DIY estate planning document can only be described as a cookie-cutter type of affair that can cause plenty of issues later down the road. 

For example, it’s not uncommon for people to go for DIY estate planning in order to save a few hundred dollars, only to lose thousands in legal fees in the future. 

The biggest risk is the false sense of security they provide. You’re left feeling as if everything is taken care of, while a technical mistake can render all the documents useless. Because of this, if you pass away with an invalid will, the probate court won’t accept it and your assets will be distributed as if you died intestate (without a will) according to Florida intestacy laws. 

Main Issues With DIY Will and Trust Documents

Here are some of the biggest problems with DIY estate planning:

1. Generalized forms

If you find a will form online, chances are that you’ll get generic instructions that don’t reflect state laws. In other words, you’re getting the bare-bones version of a will that doesn’t comply with Florida requirements. 

Here’s a quick example:

A will in Florida is only binding if it’s signed by a testator in front of two witnesses. By using an online form, you may not be aware of this fact. Furthermore, most estate planning attorneys will advise you to create a self-proving will by including a self-proving provision with notarized signatures. This move can save your family a world of trouble during probate proceedings, but you wouldn’t know this if you relied on online DIY forms. 

2. High Probability of Making Technical Mistakes

Although online forms are very flexible, they open the door to making technical mistakes. For instance, if you use a site like LegalZoom, you can edit a completed will and put anything you want in the directive box. 

Easy, right?

Not quite. By adding random information in this box, you can self-create clauses that are in clear contradiction with other elements of the will. 

3. High Probability of Running Into Tax Problems

When talking about the risks of DIY estate planning, we must mention that online tools perform poorly when it comes to tax-saving documentation such as trusts. Due to the generalized nature of these online forms, you may end up with an estate structure for someone with $10 million in assets when in reality your assets don’t exceed $75 thousands. 

Because of this error, your estate may end up owing a lot more money than if you actually consulted an attorney. 

Even in cases where an online form includes some tax planning provision, they may not interact at all with your financial planning or apply to your estate. 

All in all, this could end up costing your family more money in the long run. Unfortunately, an online service doesn’t account for your goals, and as such, you’ll just miss out on a lot of opportunities to preserve assets in the future. To put it differently, you will save a few hundred bucks on your estate plan today, but your family may lose tens of thousands of dollars. 

4. DIY Estate Planning Doesn’t Address Special Circumstances

DIY will and trust documents typically consist of simple forms that don’t work for blended families or families that have loved ones with special needs. Sadly, cookie-cutter documents may cause the most vulnerable members of your family to be completely overlooked. 

5. Shady Business Practices 

Online legal document services are generally not upfront about their practices. Believe it or not, online providers like LegalShield earn a lot of money by marketing actual legal services.

The way this works is that sites such as these offer a “safety net” of sorts, where they can refer you to an attorney if you run into any problems. These attorneys usually work on a flat fee basis with a part going directly to the online provider in the form of a referral fee. 

On the surface, this seems perfectly fine, but once you dig deeper, you realize that you’re not getting good service. First, the rates that the attorneys receive are laughable, which means that in order for the service to be financially viable, the review you receive is basic at best. 

While this is a good thing for young attorneys to gain some experience, do you want the future of your family to rest in the hands of a legal professional straight out of law school? Plus, the entire arrangement is very shady. 

Get an Estate Plan Your Family Deserves at Doane & Doane

When online legal documents services became more widespread, we started reviewing DIY trust and will documentation. As you’d expect, the results were subpar at best. Even in cases where there were no mistakes, the clients missed a clear opportunity to save thousands of dollars. 

You don’t want to take this risk. You worked hard your entire life to provide financial security to your family and you deserve a lot more than it’s possible with a DIY estate plan. 

For a proper estate plan, reach out to attorneys at Doane & Doane. Over the last 20 years, we cultivated a close relationship with our clients, and we always made sure that their estate planning documents were as foolproof as they could be. Our track record doesn’t lie - in fact, it proves there’s no replacement for quality legal service from an expert attorney. 

We can make an estate plan your family deserves - call 561-656-0200 or fill out our contact form to schedule an appointment.

Note: 

The information in this blog post is for reference only and not legal advice. As such, you should not make legal decisions based on the information in this blog post. Moreover, there is no lawyer-client relationship resulting from this blog post, nor should any such relationship be implied. If you need legal counsel, please consult a lawyer licensed to practice in your jurisdiction.