Why should I hire an attorney to put together my estate plan?  Can’t I save money by doing my own Will through an online service or buying software?

You have probably seen advertisements for legal document service companies on the internet.  These companies tell you that you can avoid the expense of hiring an attorney to draft a Will for you by hiring an inexpensive online document service company to do it for you.  You may have also seen form books with sample Wills that you can copy, or software at OfficeMax which is supposed to provide the tools for easy, do-it-yourself estate planning.  There is serious concern and risk involved in using such services. 

This is not just our concern; please see the Consumer Reports article, which can be found at http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/money/retirement-planning/write-your-own-will/overview/index.htm

One popular site for drafting your own legal documents contains this disclaimer: “.. is not a law firm, does not act as your attorney and is not a substitute for the advice of an attorney….if you seek representation, are involved in litigation or have complex legal issues that cannot be resolved on your own, we recommend that you hire an attorney.”  Estate planning can be a “complex legal issue.”  It is also serious.  If it is important enough to you to put time and effort into planning how you want your estate to be distributed, it should be important enough to you to do it right the first time by hiring a trained, licensed professional. Here are some factors you should consider if you are thinking about using an online legal document service company to draft your Will, or if you are thinking about drafting your own Will using a form book or software.

• Form legal documents cannot account for your individual situation

o   Individual circumstances have a significant impact on what kind of provisions you need in your Will. Legal documents are structured on a case-by-case basis, and an attorney has had careful training in how to craft legal documents that both meet legal requirements and are tailored to your individual situation.

o   For example, an estate planning attorney can provided tailored advice if you have a special needs child or other disabled family members; if you have a grandchild who might inherit from you who is irresponsible with money; if you are part of a blended family, if you are in an unmarried partnership, or if your estate might be subject to the estate tax.  These are only some of the circumstances which require careful planning that is tailored to your individual situation.

• The information you get online may not be accurate or up to date

o   How many times have you looked up something on the internet and discovered clearly erroneous information?  The internet is a great tool, but unfortunately, a lot of the information found online can be unreliable or out of date. 

o   The form Wills that you draft on the internet could have been written by anyone, and it could have been written by someone who did not consider all the applicable laws and how they interact.

o   Form books and software will also have the potential to be out of date.  Think about how often the software on your computer needs updating, or how often new editions of books are published.  Laws change every year, and there is the real possibility that a book or software will not have the latest information.

o   Laws vary widely from state to state, and internet forms, form books, and software may not meet your state’s requirements for validity.  Additionally, laws change on a regular basis, so even if the form meets your state’s requirements, it may not be updated to reflect recent legal changes.

• Online services, form books, and software cannot give you legal advice

o   They will only check your documents for misspellings and other typographical errors.  They will not analyze your particular circumstances to determine the best plan for your situation.

o   Online services provide you with what they call a “peace of mind review” which actually only reviews your documents for missing information, misspelled words, grammar, font usage, and shipping information.  To have true peace of mind, you should be able to know that a trained professional has planned carefully to meet your needs as an individual.  A company that can run spell-check for you, but cannot provide you with any legal advice about your estate plan, is not a service that provides you with true peace of mind!  If you create your Will by copying a form from a book or using similar software, there is similar lack of review for legally significant errors.

• Online legal document services and estate planning software provide you with a false sense of security. 

o   The company cannot and will not alert you to any mistakes of legal significance in your Will.  If you use such a service to draft your Will, any mistakes in it most likely will not become evident until after you pass away.  At that point, the people who will have to deal with any errors in the Will are most likely the very people that you were trying to protect by drafting a Will.  

o   You may save yourself a little money by drafting your own Will, but your loved ones may have to spend a lot of money working with an estate planning attorney if there were mistakes in the Will.

o   If any mistake in your estate plan is significant enough to render your estate planning documents invalid, your family will be forced to administer your estate according to the laws of intestacy.  These laws are written by the state legislature for people who die without an estate plan in place, and they may not provide the same result as what you would have wanted.

You should weigh these concerns carefully before proceeding with creating your own Will on the internet or by using software or a form book for assistance.  Remember that online legal document service companies, software, and form books are not liable to you for malpractice or negligence of any sort.  Moreover, they cannot provide you with legal advice.  An estate planning attorney can analyze how to craft an estate plan that meets your needs and your intentions.  Estate planning can be complex and is a serious matter, and it should be worth it to you to know that your estate planning documents have been drafted carefully and completely to accomplish your goals.