Heart Surgery and Estate Planning – Don’t Do-It-Yourself.

Estate planning should be viewed by individuals much like heart surgery. A “Do-It-Yourself” approach just should not be an option. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal addressed the issue of several on-line programs for the “Do-It-Yourself” Will, Revocable Trust and Powers of Attorney. Unfortunately, many times when these articles advise readers that a Do-It-Yourself estate plan is possible, they lead them horribly astray. Many on-line websites will tell consumers that they can knock-out a coherent set of estate planning documents to organize their end-of-life affairs. What these consumers need to understand is that much of the information provided is incomplete and many times inaccurate. Consumers also need to recognize that the individuals providing this information are not attorney’s licensed to practice law in the state in which the company runs it’s business and in most instances, they are not licensed in the states where the products are sold. Each family may think that their life is simple and therefore their estate plan is simple. Although, your life may be very simple and your assets may be fairly straight forward, there could still be a lot of issues and or questions that need to be posed with setting up an estate plan. Many times a computer program cannot anticipate problems with a family or money issues for minor children. The ultimate question is, will the documents work when you are deceased and will it save all of the administrative expenses you had hoped to avoid?