Online DIY Wills, Trusts and Business Documents Are Bad News
By: Barry E. Haimo, Esq.
February 2, 2013
Do it yourself anything is commonly referred to as “DIY”. When it comes to estate planning, Online DIY wills, trusts, and business documents are an absolutely terrible idea. Obviously I’m referring to the online tools you can use. These DIY resources are so incredibly dangerous to you for so many reasons. The article at the bottom of this post provides a good overview, but here are the main points of which to be aware:
- Software can never replace the insight, knowledge and overall professional ability of a human being. Estate and business planning is arguably the most important area of law to you because it involves your family and your business. Importantly, estate planning consists for when you are no longer able to express your wishes, i.e. you’ve passed away, or you are mentally incapacitated by illness or injury. Often, you only have one opportunity to get it right, and you don’t want to live your life with a false sense of relief knowing your affairs are in order when they are not.
- These Online DIY wills, trusts, and business documents services empower you to diagnose yourself, your circumstances and your needs and goals, all of which are unique to each person, family and business. Just because we live in a time where you can do things yourself does not mean you should do it yourself. After all, would you diagnose your own health problems and treatments? I certainly do not. After waiting in the waiting room for two hours, you do not tell your physician that you have gastrocolitis and need such and such medication.
- These Online DIY wills, trusts, and business documents services are not attorneys. They do not promise that the drafted documents will yield the desired results. In fact, you can expect an airtight disclaimer to that effect at the end of the DIY process.
- You already know the age-old saying that “you get what you pay for”. DIY wills, trusts, and business documents services are extremely inexpensive and therefore are quite attractive to many people who do not know better. Unfortunately, these DIY wills, trusts, and business documents services do you a disservice, and in reality, you do get what you pay for. I spent a lot of time in my practice cleaning up messes and redoing documents for people who tried to save a dollar on DIY wills, trusts, and business documents services.
- For some people, that may be an acceptable and even appropriate risk. However, for most people, it’s an unacceptable downside that puts your family at risk by doing so. There are firms such as ours that are committed to flexibility and cost effectiveness. We run our firm so our costs are lower and that savings is passed on to you. We work with clients to ensure that their needs are satisfied and being strapped financially does not deter meeting those needs.
Author:
Barry E. Haimo, Esq.
Haimo Law
Strategic Planning With Purpose
Email: barry@haimolaw.com
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