As an estate lawyer, the biggest issue I see with these types of estate plan services is that amateurs use them and fuck up their documents. Either they execute the documents incorrectly (in which case you might as well not have it), they let beneficiaries serve as witnesses, the documents don't plan for obvious contingencies, or they set up trusts and then neglect to transfer any assets to them (in which case the trust is useless). If you are not dealing with estate matters on a daily basis, then you don't know what you don't know about it. If you have a few assets to try to get to the next generation, you can afford to go see a lawyer. Go find a lawyer who will do your estate plan on a flat fee basis. You'll know exactly the cost and you won't get hit by an attorney charging you by the hour and running up the hours.
Agreed. I studied law although I didn't graduate, and estate law has so many little twists and turns that it's worth paying a lawyer to tackle it; I can't think of much worse than my death causing even more stress and fighting between those left behind due to an ill-defined will.
I should have clarified that I'm going to a lawyer once I gather all of my data. There's no way I can use the above template because it's customized for the State of Washington and I'm in Florida. Starting with a free template helps me create a plan and collect the bulk of the material even before I meet someone. Hopefully if I do my homework, then I'm not wasting the attorney's time on basic questions and can use that for clarification on some of the more complex issues.
