Planning your estate is perhaps one of the most important things you can do for your family. Everything you’ve worked for throughout your life can continue to provide for your loved ones after you pass, but only if you handle your estate accordingly.
While it’s tempting to cut costs with DIY estate planning forms, there are several reasons you need a lawyer’s assistance if you want to avoid some really real DIY dangers.
1. You Don’t Want Your Family to Go Through Probate
Probate is a long and expensive process during which the court validates a will and assigns an executor to handle an estate. Rather than receiving access to assets immediately, your loved ones may have to wait months and hire a probate lawyer before anything can be done with your estate. In addition to being financially draining, this can be emotionally taxing during a difficult time. Certain estate planning tools allow your family to bypass the probate process.
2. Your Estate Could Shrink in Size With Legal Fees Incurred by Unclear or Ambiguous Wording
Estate documents are analyzed in great detail. One poorly-chosen word or ambiguous term could completely change or obscure your intended meaning, causing fights between beneficiaries and leading to legal disputes. To get what’s rightfully theirs, beneficiaries may need to hire lawyers, which chips away at your hard-earned assets.
3. Once Mistakes Are Discovered, It’s Typically Too Late to Fix Them
Essentially, you get one shot at clear, concise estate planning documents. Mistakes are rarely discovered until you pass away and others have a chance to examine these documents. At that point, it’s too late to get clarification regarding your final wishes—which means that your assets could end up in the wrong hands.
4. Working With an Attorney Saves Time
Many people are interested in DIY estate planning because they want to save money, but they don’t think about how much time is put into DIY estate planning documents. You have to read and interpret every line, look for unclear information, review your assets, and double-check everything on your own. If you hire an experienced estate planning attorney, they know exactly what to look for and how to draft estate planning documents quickly and accurately.
5. You’ll Be Prepared for Life Changes
It’s important to update your estate plan throughout your life as your plans change. Perhaps you add new family members to your estate or acquire new assets; either way, your documents have to be updated, Instead of trying to figure out how to do it on your own, you can go to your attorney and have it done in a matter of hours.
Are you ready to start getting your estate planning documents in order? Werner Law Firm is here for you. Call us at 866-265-4467 to begin preparing for your family’s future.