Due to the fact that we are living in the information age people are able to do many things on their own that they were not capable of doing in years past. There are software programs that make many complicated tasks relatively simple, and this has certainly been a positive development in the big picture. But there are always opportunists out there who will take this a step too far and put people at risk in the process.
With this in mind, if you start searching the Internet looking for information about estate planning you will invariably come upon websites claiming that it is easy to plan your own estate. Many will offer to sell you generic templates or estate planning software, claiming that “one-size-fits-all.” When you see something that sounds like it is too good to be true, it almost always is, and this is something to keep in mind when you see these Internet marketing ploys.
You have to take the gravity of the matter into consideration when you consider DIY projects. You might be willing to undertake the task of planting some tomato plants with the full recognition that you are not going to personally landscape your entire property. When it comes estate planning, you are talking about transferring all the assets that you have been able to accumulate throughout your life to the people that you love the most. The financial stake is considerable, and the emotional stake may exceed the financial stake. Is this a matter that you want to entrust to a generic document or template software program created by an Internet marketer?
Estate planning is a legal matter, and any time you are executing legally binding documents you would do well to do so with the assistance of a licensed attorney. If you go it alone with a DIY estate planning kit that you downloaded off the Internet you are putting yourself and your family at risk.
John Kuhn, Estate Planning Attorney
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