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Sure – and while you’re at it, why
don’t you take out your own appendix, do a complete engine overhaul on a 747
and come up with a cure for cancer?
OK, I exaggerate –
a little. And I admit I’m probably slightly biased on the issue of people
relying on “DIY” or off-the-shelf wills.
As a practicing
attorney in the area of estate planning and elder law, I like to think that
those years I spent in law school (not to mention the thousands of dollars in
tuition I spent), my attendance at continuing legal education classes and my
years of experience in the practice of law count help me provide clients with
something of value … something they can’t get in a $10 fill-in-the-blanks will
kit from an office supply store or off the Internet (Bob Shapiro, I’m lookin’
at you – but more about that later).
But I’ve also
learned over the years that some people, for whatever reason, have the same
kind of aversion to paying for legal services that they do to, say, eating
asparagus. They just find it distasteful. It may even activate their gag
reflex.
If you test
positive for Attorney Allergy, I offer my condolences, and a few tips to
confirmed “DIY-ers” to help alleviate some of the stress that will be visited
upon your heirs, yea, even unto the third and fourth generation:
·
First of all, wills in Washington , like nearly everyplace else, require
two competent witnesses, a concept most people are familiar with. But if your “DIY”
or off-the-shelf effort leaves it at that, you could be creating unnecessary headaches
for your heirs after you have slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the
face of God. If the will doesn’t also include an Affidavit of Attestation –
acknowledged by a notary who witnesses the witnesses’ signatures – it is not
“self proving” and cannot be admitted to probate in the Superior Court without
additional evidence being offered. Such an affidavit can be executed when the
will is offered for probate (meaning, after you die), assuming the witnesses
are available. If they aren’t, your personal representative (the person you
name to administer your estate) may have to jump through all kinds of hoops to
establish the validity of the will. Good luck with that.
·
Do you want your personal representative to be
able to act without court intervention or posting a bond? If so, the will should
state that. Your personal representative can petition the court to obtain
nonintervention powers and waiver of the bond – but may have to hire a lawyer
to do so. And you’re the one who hates the idea of paying a lawyer … remember?
·
Finally, does your plan of distributing your
property include a “Plan B”? What happens if a beneficiary you name to receive
part of your estate dies before you do? Does that distribution get passed down
to his or her heirs? Or does it get put back into the pot and distributed
pro-rata to the other beneficiaries you name in your will? Failing to account
for contingencies could leave you with results you didn’t contemplate, or desire.
I promised I’d get
back to Mr. LegalZoom. Bob Shapiro. If he was good enough to get O.J. off,
isn’t he good enough to do your will?
Here’s the thing –
when you get legal documents from an online source such as LegalZoom, you’re
getting just that – legal DOCUMENTS, not legal REPRESENTATION. Bob is not your
lawyer. He may have battalions of attorneys tapping out form wills and trusts
24-7 in some boiler room operation. But you take a risk that the documents such
a service provides are actually the ones you need – and contain the provisions
that will carry out your wishes. And if something goes wrong down the road,
neither Bob nor his minions – or their malpractice carrier – will be there to
bail you out. Because, as I said, Bob isn’t your lawyer – he is a document
provider.
Now, in the
interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that, yes, I have seen a few form
or “off-the-shelf “wills come into my office that actually accomplished what
the “testator” – the person making the will – intended. But I have also seen
wills with omission and ambiguous clauses that created all manner of mischief
to be undone. At that point, you’ve got the grandson and the nephew ready to
square off on cage match over who gets the John Deere tractor or the Civil
War-era flintlock pistol. The battle is on, and who ya’ gonna call?
Well,
unfortunately for you, at that point you’re not going to be in a position to
call anyone, being deceased and all.
But my guess is
your heirs – if they have an aversion to stepping into that cage – will start
letting their fingers do the walking, and likely are going to end up talking to
someone like … me.
Sorry about that.
As they used to
say on the Fram oil filter TV commercials, “Pay me now or pay me later.”