Using Wills from the Internet or a Book

Have you ever heard the commercials on radio and television for companies that do a will for you for a very small fee, much smaller than a lawyer’s fee? Is it worth it to use a will form from a company that is on the internet or that is printed in a book?

How do you know if the will you get from a book or from an internet company will do the job until it’s too late? You don’t. You could have a will from an internet company that does distribute your assets to the people you want in the way you want but it might cost you thousands of dollars in state estate tax. Or, the internet form will not tell you that you should put all of the money that your young children will inherit in a trust. Or the trust may end when your child turns 18. Do you want your 18 year old to inherit thousands of dollars all at once? Will they use your money wisely?

Does the form from the internet tell you exactly how to have the will signed (you need witnesses who are not beneficiaries under the will and who can be found by the court when you die? Your instructions may not be that thorough or they may not give you certain tips that a lawyer would give.

If you want an estate plan that does not fit with the form’s fill-in-the blanks, what do you do then? You may not have any options to change the form. Or by changing the form, you may create unintended consequences.

If you have any legal questions about your estate plan, you cannot ask the internet company for legal advice – they will refer you to an attorney.

People hate spending money for experts. They will try to do their own plumbing, self-diagnose their illnesses, and create their own legal documents. You think you are saving money by doing it yourself and occasionally you are. But there are many more times that by doing it yourself, you make things worse. And when you call in the experts, it costs more to fix the problems that you created than it would have if you had gone to the expert first. Don’t do surgery on yourself and don’t write your own will. Call an estate planning lawyer, someone who knows the right questions to ask you. That way, you will have the will that works the way you intended. You can pay me now (to write your will) or pay me later (to fix your probate problems), but paying me later is always more expensive.

 

New Year’s Resolutions

Many people create their personal list of New Year’s resolutions and then abandon them by February or March. This year, be different, create a roadmap of how you will achieve your goals.

For example, if one of your resolutions is to organize your financial records (and that’s a great goal in these uncertain times as well as every year at tax time), your road map should start with buying certain supplies – perhaps an accordion file, certainly a fireproof box, file folders. Then, start organizing your papers by different categories. Your road map should state when you are going to take each step, maybe week by week or month by month.

If your goal is to lose weight, then write down very specific ways in which you will make changes – choosing different foods to lower your calorie count, exercising a certain number of days per week. Write down your exercise goals in your calendar so that you will actually do them. Find an activity that gets you off the couch that burns calories, dancing, gardening, tennis with your friends – they all will help.

Maybe you need an outsider to keep you motivated. If you are strapped for cash, enlist the help of friends. Everyone is great at keeping someone else’s New Year’s resolutions. They will offer good suggestions and provide accountability. If you want to keep your friends out of the picture, hire a professional. There are life coaches, personal trainers, nutritionists, financial planners, and lawyers. They will all help you achieve different goals.

Add estate planning to your New Year’s resolutions. Everyone who is over the age of 18 needs certain basic documents and those documents need to be updated periodically. If you have never had an estate plan done, call a lawyer who specializes in estate planning now. Every one of us has a story of someone who died unexpectedly. And when they die without an estate plan, it makes it so much harder for the family left behind.

Get a fresh start now and get your life moving in the direction that makes you happy . Then add in those items that you know that you should do but always put off. Once you do those things, you will feel so relieved. And accomplishing these goals is a wonderful gift to your family.