There are many reasons to not do your Will or estate plan online. Here are the top three.
Many people want to have a Will or start their estate planning. However, one of the worst ways to do so is to try and do your Will online. This is definitely an area where the illusion of ease and simplicity can come back and hurt you and your family.
Here are the top three reasons to not do your Will online:
1. Online Wills Don't Work.
There's not much reason to do something online if it's not going to work for you. Generally, online Wills don't work and they don't work because of the reasons that the document is online in the first place. Read on.
2. Online Wills Are Overly Generic.
In order to make a document apply to millions of people simultaneously, the document must be built and structured extremely generically. In other words, having apply specifically to you takes work, the kind of attention that you get only with a qualified estate planning attorney and not online. These documents are full of traps for the unwary and if you don't have advice, how can you be sure of avoiding those traps?
3. Online Wills Fail to Comply with State Law.
Due to their generic nature, lack of planning and expert advice, most times online Wills fail to comply with even the most basic requirements of state law. If the Will fails to comply with state law, the Will itself fails. Moreover, the primary supplier of online documents, legalzoom has been sued in several states for a variety of state law violations. I have always failed to understand why people would think of dealing with a company like that which doesn't serve the interests of it's customers.
There are many more reasons to not do your Will online, but these top three should be considered by everyone. Given that you can do your Will with expert advice for about the same investment, consider that approach first.
Let me know if you have questions or comments and please join our conversation. Thank you as always for your interest.
Bernie Greenberg
BECAUSE DEATH AND TAXES: Learn about what you need to do to be prepared for what's coming. Wills, trusts, taxes, probate. If you haven't experienced it you will. Estate planning is one of the most important things you can do to protect yourself and your family. Please join Bernie Greenberg's world of estate planning. www.kgattys.com
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