Create a quality estate plan (but don’t DIY)

On Behalf of | Jun 17, 2022 | Estate Planning

Your estate plan is an important set of documents that help protect you and your loved ones if you are incapacitated or pass away. The estate plan will go over several important factors including:

  • Your will
  • Your beneficiaries
  • Your wishes
  • Guardianships for your children

…and many others.

Your estate plan will help protect your beneficiaries and make sure they get everything that you wanted to leave to them. It will also be protective of you during your life if you need to have someone make healthcare or financial decisions for you.

A solid estate plan will protect you, which is why a do-it-yourself plan isn’t a great idea. If you try to cobble together your own estate plan, it’s very possible that you could miss something important. You could have two documents conflict with one another or forget to include certain assets in your estate plan.

A DIY plan still requires an attorney’s touch

In most cases, DIY plans still require you to speak with and meet with an attorney. Why? You will need witnesses, to submit the document to court and, often, notarization.

While you might be able to get your thoughts in order by working through a DIY estate-planning document, you should still consider taking that to your attorney for review at the very least. Then, if they have suggestions on making your estate plan stronger or more protective, it can be valuable to hear them out and consider adding to your estate plan.

Affordability is a consideration, but it’s not all that matters

Creating your estate plan on your own might be affordable and seem simple enough, but every state has its own rules and there could be a chance that your DIY documents won’t stand up in court. On top of that, it’s not always very expensive to build an estate plan with an attorney’s help.

The right legal terminology has to be used, and you have to be sure that the information you do include is protective enough that your estate plan won’t just be thrown out. If it is thrown out in court, then your entire estate will be subject to state distribution rules, which could be far from what you actually wanted.