Some people buy into the idea that you can purchase generic legal documents online and plan your own estate. The the fact is that you can indeed pay the hefty charges, download the documents, and fill in the blanks. Whether or not they will actually be legally binding and ultimately uphold your true wishes is anyone’s guess.
It is important to have your estate plan constructed by an experienced professional so that there are no openings that can be utilized by disgruntled parties who may want to challenge your wishes. You never know what people will do once you are gone and challenges are relatively common.
Some of these can keep an estate in limbo for an extraordinarily long period of time, and the rightful heirs to the estate do not receive inheritances until the matter has been hashed out. And of course, there are significant legal expenses incurred during court battles and this is another concern.
For an example look no further than the case of the late Anna Nicole Smith and the Marshall family that was settled by the Supreme Court last year after some 15 years of wrangling.
When you are going to be leaving behind instructions that may not sit well with some people you must be realistic and make sure that you are going forward with a truly ironclad estate plan. The best way of doing this is with the assistance of a highly experienced and savvy Indianapolis estate planning lawyer who has a thorough understanding of how to close the door to estate challenges.
Paul A. Kraft, Estate Planning Attorney
Mr. Kraft assists clients primarily in the areas of estate planning and administration, Medicaid planning, federal and state taxation, real estate and corporate law, bringing the added perspective of an accounting background to his work.
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