Do a Google search for “digital wills” or “online estate planning,” and you’ll find dozens of different websites offering low-cost, do-it-yourself (DIY) and sometimes even free estate planning documents, such as wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and healthcare directives.
From LegalZoom® and Rocket Lawyer® to TrustandWill.com and FreeWill.com, these DIY legal documents may seem like a cheap and easy way to finally cross estate planning off your to-do list―and do so without having to pay a lawyer big bucks to assist you. After all, you’ve been able to prepare and file your taxes online for years, is estate planning really that much different? And aren’t lawyers using the very same forms you find on these DIY document websites?
An Inconvenient Truth
This kind of thinking is exactly what DIY and online estate planning services would like you to believe, but it’s far from true. In fact, relying on DIY or online estate planning documents can be one of the costliest mistakes you can make for your loved ones. Keep in mind, just because you created “legal” estate planning documents that doesn’t mean they will actually work when you―or most importantly, the people you love―need them.
Without a thorough understanding of your family dynamics, the nature of your assets, and how the legal process works upon your death or incapacity, you are likely to make serious mistakes when creating a DIY estate plan. Even worse, these mistakes won’t be discovered until it’s too late―and the loved ones you were trying to protect will be the very ones forced to clean up your mess or get stuck in a costly and traumatic court process that can drag out for months or even years.
Last week, in part one of this series, we covered the first two ways DIY estate plans can fail, and here, we’ll cover the remaining three.
#3 Way Your DIY Estate Plan Can Fail: Choosing the Wrong Executors or Trustees
Trustees and Executor share some similarities. They are both fiduciaries. A fiduciary is someone who is put in charge of someone else’s money. A Trustee is a fiduciary over a trust, and an Executor is a fiduciary over a probate estate.
Trustees are named in Trust documents to act when the original Trustee(s) dies or is incapacitated. They can take over management of the Trust without court intervention. Once acting, the Trustee assumes all of the duties and responsibilities outlined in both the California probate code and the Trust document. Keep in mind that the Trustee is not the same thing as the Trust beneficiary. The Trustee does not receive Trust assets (unless the Trustee is also named as beneficiary). And in most cases, the Trustee does not have the right to change the Trust terms.
The Executor is responsible for protecting the interests of the estate as it goes through probate. Being nominated as Executor in a loved one’s will is often considered an honor. It puts a high duty of trust in the Executor’s honesty and integrity. However, in California, the Executor may not move forward with their duties until they have been formally appointed by the court. The fact that the will names an Executor is not―in and of itself―a guarantee that the court will appoint the named individual as Executor. The court must still “vet” that person to ensure that they can handle the responsibilities at issue.
Here at Kitzes Law, we understand that the various expectations imposed on Executors and Trustees in California can be confusing. That’s why as your Personal Family Lawyer®, we can serve as a trusted advisor on whatever legal issues may arise.
#4 Way Your DIY Estate Plan Can Fail: Lost and Unclaimed Assets
Unless your family knows exactly what assets you own and how to locate and access those assets, that property is as good as gone when you die – and your online will won’t be of any use to your family. In fact, there’s currently more than $50 billion worth of unclaimed property sitting in the different state Departments of Unclaimed Property across the U.S. because a family member died and their loved ones lost track of their assets.
To ensure that none of your assets end up in our state’s Department of Unclaimed Property, and your family will know exactly what you have and how to find everything if something happens to you, it’s essential that you keep a regularly updated inventory of all your assets. As your Personal Family Lawyer®, we will not only help you create a comprehensive asset inventory, we’ll make sure it stays regularly updated throughout your lifetime.
#5 Way Your DIY Estate Plan Can Fail: Unforeseen Conflict Between Family Members
Family dynamics are―to put it lightly―quite complex. This is particularly true for blended families, where spouses have children from previous relationships. A DIY service cannot help you consider all the potential areas where conflict might arise among your family members and help you plan ahead of time to avoid such disputes. Even the best set of documents will be unable to anticipate and navigate these complex emotional matters―but we can.
Every day we see families ripped apart due to poor estate planning. Yet, we also see families brought closer together as a result of handling these matters the right way. When done right, the estate planning process is actually a huge opportunity to build new connections within your family, and our lawyers are specifically trained to help you with that.
In fact, preventing family conflict with proactive estate planning is our special sauce and one of the primary reasons to work with Kitzes Law as your Personal Family Lawyer®, rather than relying on DIY planning documents.
The Kind of Planning Your Family Deserves
When it comes to estate planning, the documents you use are only as good as the understanding your lawyer has about your family dynamics, the nature of your assets, and how the law will apply to your situation upon your death or incapacity. And in most cases, you will need far more than just a few fill-in-the blank documents to properly address all of those complexities.
If you truly want things to be as simple as possible for the people you love when something happens to you, you want a trusted counsel who can prepare an estate plan that will achieve your desired objectives with a minimum amount of stress and conflict for the loved ones you are leaving behind, not just someone who has the best documents. This is where a Personal Family Lawyer® comes in.
If you’ve yet to do any planning, contact Kitzes Law, your Personal Family Lawyer® to schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session™, which is the first step in our Life & Legacy Planning Process. During this initial meeting, we’ll take you through an analysis of your assets, what’s most important to you, and what will happen to your loved ones when you die or if you become incapacitated.
If, as a result of this process, we determine that you really do have a very simple situation, and you want to create your own planning documents yourself online, we will support you to do that. However, if as a result of the process, you decide you would like us to draft a plan for you, we’ll support you to find the optimal level of planning for a price that’s right for you.
As part of our planning process, we will inventory all of your assets and ensure they are titled in a way that will keep your family out of court and out of conflict no matter what happens to you. Moreover, we take the time to get to know your family members and include them in the planning process, so everyone affected by your plan is well-aware of what your latest planning strategies are and why you made the choices you did, along with knowing exactly what they need to do if something happens to you. And if you are the parent of minor children, we will put safeguards in place to ensure that your kids are never placed into the care of strangers, even temporarily.
Life & Legacy Planning
Ultimately, we’ve discovered that estate planning is about far more than planning for your death and passing on your “estate” to your loved ones―it’s about planning for a life you love and a legacy worth leaving by the choices you make today―and this is why we call our services Life & Legacy Planning.
As your Personal Family Lawyer®, we are specifically trained to educate, empower, and support you to make the right decisions for the people you love, and get to know what really matters most to you. Furthermore, because your plan is designed to protect and provide for your loved ones in the event of your death or incapacity, we aren’t just here to serve you―we’re here to serve your entire family.
In the end, as your Personal Family Lawyer®, our Life & Legacy Planning services go far beyond simply creating documents and then never seeing you again. We will develop a relationship with you and your family that lasts not only for your lifetime but for the lifetime of your children and their children if that’s your wish.
While the DIY approach might be a good idea if you’re looking to build a new deck for your backyard, when it comes to estate planning, it’s one of the worst choices you can make. Are you really willing to put your family’s well-being and wealth at risk just to save a few bucks? If you want to truly do right by those you love, contact us, to get your Life & Legacy Plan started today.
This article is a service of The Law Offices of Stephanie K. Kitzes, A Professional Corporation. We don’t just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. That’s why we offer a Family Wealth Planning Session™, during which you will get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before, and make all the best choices for the people you love. You can begin by contacting our office today to schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session and mention this article to find out how to get a $250 credit toward a comprehensive plan that will make it simple as can be for your family if anything happens to you.
