Estate Planning, Holographic Wills, Intestacy, Legal News, Oklahoma, probate, Wills

Why Online Wills Can be Harmful to Your Estate Planning

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In September of 2010, a non-lawyer wrote an article about her experience trying out four different will-making computer programs. This article appeared in the New York Times. After she got all four different wills drafted, she took the wills to an established estate planning lawyer in New York City, and had them reviewed. The results were poor, to say the least. The lawyer found that one of the Wills was so defective that it did not even identify which heirs got which of the author’s assets. Each of the other three wills had different problems, including problems that could harm the probate process.  The attorney stated,  “The thing that most surprised me is how different your will comes out depending on what program you pick.” Some of the more common problems with the online-made wills include:

•Problems with Coordinating Probate and Non-Probate Assets.
Most people have property that your Will does not cover since it passes outside of probate. For example, many couples own a house in joint tenancy, that the house will pass to the surviving owners, and not to the beneficiaries named in your Will. While you can name contingent beneficiaries in the will, it’s not understanding which property passes through probate and which does not that can derail your estate plan.
•Trouble Naming Contingent Beneficiaries.
If one or more of the beneficiaries you name in your Will passes away before you, and you haven’t named an alternate beneficiary to take that person’s place, then your property passes to your heirs-at-law. If you’re not a lawyer, chances are you don’t know who your heirs-at-law are, and you probably do not want your property going to them. A Will that does not name contingent beneficiaries may have the result of taking your property away from your control, and giving that control to the state through the state’s intestacy statutes. Most online websites forget or do not have a contingent beneficiary estate plan as part of their package, and this can cause all sorts of problems for people with relatively simple life situations. If your family’s situation is more complex than normal, say you are a blended family or you have complex estate, than contingent beneficiaries and similar provisions can make your estate planning problems even worse. Qualified estate planning attorneys know these problems and can work with you to figure out what is the best plan for your estate planning needs. An experienced attorney can adapt, and should will know what the appropriate questions to ask for your situation, and no computer estate planning model can do that.
•Inability to Create Trusts for Minors.
When a person leaves anything to a minor, that minor cannot take legal control of the money or property he or she inherited or benefits from. An experienced estate planning attorney would put a clause that would put any of these assets in to a trust, with a named trustee, to manage the money or assets left to the minor until the child turns eighteen (18).  If your will has no minor’s trust clause, and your estate plan leaves money directly to a minor, then a person would have to start a court proceeding to appoint a guardian or conservator. Guardianships are expensive court proceedings, and having a clause in the will can avoid these complications and expense you did not expect.
If you are needing to get any estate planning done, please consult an attorney. The online wills and trusts market are booming, but that does not mean it is the best choice for your planning. Do you really want to save money when it comes to providing a future for your spouse, children, or grandchildren? Call the attorneys of Skillern Law today.

Published by skillernlaw

Estate Planning and Probate Attorney in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Attorney/owner of the Skillern Law Firm, PLLC.

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