Writing up your own estate plan using a template can leave your last wishes legally unclear. If you’d like to make sure that your estate plan is carried out how you want, then it’s important to enlist the services of an attorney.
Even though it’s possible to make estate plans on your own, it’s not necessarily the best idea. Your end-of-life estate plan is more than just directing your assets to various people when you die. It’s not always that simple. You need to also make sure that your last wishes have legal backing to effectively carry them out. This is where an attorney who specializes in estate planning comes into play. Here are five reasons why you shouldn’t forgo their services.
Will Customization
Unlike downloading an online template, an estate planning attorney can fully personalize and customize your will. Generic templates may not always communicate clearly what you want to be done with your assets after you die. Not only that, if you need to change things later, you risk making the whole thing invalid. Having an attorney draft the documents from scratch means that everything is tailored to your needs and will be legally clear. One of the biggest sources of conflict after a person dies is carrying out the will. Some people think that simply writing down what they want and signing it will be enough. Unfortunately, everything still needs to be legally interpreted, which means that your simple will might not be carried out how you wanted.
Avoiding Estate Taxes and Probate
Another benefit of having an attorney plan your estate is that you can more easily avoid probate and estate taxes. Probate is a process that can suck money and time from everyone’s life, and you risk losing money that would go to your heirs going instead to things like debts, court fees and lawyers. Your property will be appraised in this process and everything identified and inventoried. Whatever is left at the end of it will then go to your heirs as your will directs. An attorney can help you plan to avoid this through the use of gifts, death beneficiaries, trusts, and joint property ownership. When you form a trust on our own, you again risk it being legally unclear and having your estate plan rendered useless.
Updating Your Estate Plan
As previously mentioned, it’s not always possible to simply write up a will, stash it away and then forget about it. Things can change in a flash. You might have family changes, asset changes, location changes or a number of other things that may require an update to your will. Instead of writing up a whole new will, you can have your attorney keep a backup and update it as needed. Another benefit to this is that your attorney has all the access to any changes in the laws as well, so your will can be updated to reflect that.
Legal Instruments
In some cases, you may only need a simple will. However, in others, you may need a variety of other legal documents as well. An estate lawyer can help you get the correct legal documents for your situation. They can help you set up documents such as power of attorney, a revocable living trust, an assignment agreement, property title deeds, and a funding letter. Power of attorney documents are especially important as they dictate who can act on your behalf if you become incapacitated. If you don’t have a power of attorney document, then you risk other people speaking for you in ways that you don’t want.
Keeping Up With the Latest Legal Code
Laws and legal codes change all the time. States generally reprint their Probate Code every year to reflect these changes. Lawyers who specialize in estate planning always know the newest laws and any changes to legal codes. They can then advise you on whether your will needs to be changed. For example, many states are now giving estate executors access to email and social media accounts when the person dies. It’s important to cover all your bases on what you want to be done with easily-overlooked items like this. A lawyer can inform you of law changes and give you the opportunity to have your will reflect them.
Writing up your own estate plan using a template can leave your last wishes legally unclear. If you’d like to make sure that your estate plan is carried out how you want, then it’s important to enlist the services of an attorney.
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