Before you decide to use a Do-It-Yourself form to create your Last Will and Testament, you should understand who may pay the price for that decision. To help you better understand, a Carmel estate planning attorney at Frank & Kraft explains what’s wrong with using a Do-it-Yourself Will form.
The Price Your Loved Ones Pay
In today’s electronic age,where everything can be found on the internet, it may seem easier to simplydownload a Last Will and Testament form and fill in the blanks than going tothe trouble of working with an estate planning attorney. You may even believethat you are saving a significant amount of time and money by taking thisroute. In truth, you may be saving time and money now; however, there may be aheavy price to pay down the road – and your loved ones are the ones who willpay that price. If you created a Last Will and Testament, the document won’t betested until you are gone. At that point, you are no longer around to fix anyproblems that may arise – and there is a very good chance there will beproblems, such as:
- Failureto distribute the entire estate– one of the most common problem that arises when a DIY Will form is used isfailure to distribute the entire estate. One of the primary reasons for executinga Will is to avoid the state’s intestate succession laws. If any assets areleft out of your Will, however, an intestate estate proceeding will have to beinitiated.
- Stalelanguage or law – Many DIY Willforms have been floating around the internet for years. Applicable laws mayhave changed in the interim, making some of the language in the form, or theentire form, stale from a legal standpoint.
- Notstate specific – many of thelaws that govern wills and estates are state laws. For this reason, a Will mustbe state specific to ensure it will be valid. Many DIY forms, however, aregeneric and do not include state specific considerations.
- Failedinteraction between documents– using one DIY legal form is dangerous enough. Trying to use both a Will and atrust that interact with each other is much more likely to result in failurebecause you need experienced legal advice to accomplish this.
- Improperexecution – for a Will to be valid,it must be executed using the proper procedures, such as the need to be executedin front of two neutral witnesses. Because those can also vary from state tostate, a generic form doesn’t work.
What Happens after You Are Gone?
Most of the problems with aDIY Will do not surface until after the death of the Testator. This tends tocompound the problems because there is no way to clear up vague language, fixan error, or explain an omission. This often leads to litigation during theprobate of an estate. If your estate ends up in litigation during the probateprocess it will result in diminishing the value of your estate, meaning yourloved ones will receive less than you intended. It will also hold up thetransfer of assets to your intended beneficiaries. Ultimately, your loved onesmay pay a hefty price for your use of a DIY Will. The easy way to avoid thedangers inherent in using DIY Wills is to retain the services of an experiencedestate planning attorney to help you create your Last Will and Testament.
Contact a Carmel Estate Planning Attorney
For more information, please join us for a FREE upcoming seminar.If you have additional questions or concerns about using DIY estate planningdocuments, or if you are ready to get started with your estate plan, contact anexperienced Carmel estate planning attorney at Frank & Kraft by calling (317) 684-1100 to schedule anappointment.
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.
- Will I Still Have Control Over Assets If I Transfer Them into a Trust? - October 3, 2023
- How Does Life Insurance Fit into My Estate Plan? - September 28, 2023
- Will Medicaid Pay a Family Member to Care for Me in Indiana? - September 26, 2023
