Estate planning myth: An estate plan that you do yourself using a book or computer program will work just as well as an estate plan done by an experienced estate planning attorney.
Estate planning reality: During my 15 years of practice as an estate planning attorney I've come across 10 - 15 homemade estate plans, and every last one of them didn't work. The reasons why ranged from a confusing and inadequate handwritten will, to some really bad generic forms, to forms that were designed to be used by an Ohio resident that were used by a Florida resident, to decent documents that were rendered useless because they were not signed with the proper legal formalities.
A lesson I learned a long time ago is that when I try to do something on my own that should really be done by a professional, the results are always a disaster. It still amazes me how many people I meet and advertisements I read that tout estate planning as a simple, one size fits all process that anyone, anywhere can do on their own without the personal assistance or advice of an experienced estate planning attorney. And OK, while the forms found in a book or generated by a computer program have usually (I said usually) been drafted by an attorney who has some experience in estate planning, by its design the book or computer program is limited in its capacity to interact with the user.
The recommendation: Only an experienced estate planning attorney can help you put together an estate plan that will work for your own unique family and financial situations.
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