Five Reasons to Avoid Online Estate Planning Platforms
In today’s world, it’s possible to handle most of our affairs over the internet. It should come as no surprise, then, that we can have our estate plans and other legal documents drafted using an online platform. Even from my perspective as a lawyer who competes with these online platforms (I won’t name any of them here, but you probably know who I’m talking about), it’s easy for me to understand why so many people are drawn to them. In general, estate planning with these platforms is cheaper and faster than working with an actual attorney. Plus, online estate planning can be done from the comfort of home. With that all being true, one might start to think that the real live estate planning attorney’s days are numbered.
While it’s true that these online platforms sometimes have the upper hand on price and convenience, I don’t worry about them taking my job for a number of reasons. For many of those same reasons, I advise consumers to steer clear of these online legal document shops. In this month’s blog post, I’ll explain why it’s worthwhile to trust a real live attorney with your estate plan instead of trying to do it yourself online. If you’d like to start the process of having an attorney draft your estate plan, you’re welcome to get in touch. Initial consultations with The Law Office of Ryan A. Layton, PLLC are always free.
Here are five reasons to have your estate plan drafted by a real attorney instead of turning to the internet:
An online estate plan is not tailored to your specific needs. Online estate planning services work by asking you to fill out a questionnaire. As you answer questions, the online platform will piece together a rudimentary will and/or revocable trust for you based on your inputs. For the online platform to be able to do this, it must only offer users a limited number of options. These options are crafted to be as general as possible so that they can be utilized by the greatest possible number of customers. But estate planning isn’t a one-size-fits-all sort of thing. Each individual or family comes with unique concerns that need to be addressed in their estate plan, and an overly general set of documents purchased online can let important details slip through the cracks. Real attorneys, on the other hand, are able to tailor documents to a person’s needs in a way that just isn’t possible with online estate planning platforms.
Attorneys don’t just draft documents, they shed light on problems and provide solutions. A popular expression warns that “you don’t know what you don’t know.” I find these words especially true in the context of estate planning, where clients may know what their general goals are, but lack familiarity with the law and the types of issues an attorney is trained to identify and address. The average client may not know, for example, how to best structure their estate plan to avoid probate, or to mitigate tax liability, or to protect their beneficiaries’ inheritances from creditors and divorcing spouses. Real attorneys work closely with their clients to identify issues such as these, and they prepare estate planning documents with these issues in mind. The average person taking the do-it-yourself approach online will miss out on the opportunity to plan in this more fully informed manner.
A real attorney sees the whole picture. I recently wrote a two-part article (which you can read here and here) about assets that are not controlled by the terms of a person’s will. Assets such as life insurance policies and retirement accounts pass via beneficiary designation, and other assets such as bank accounts and real estate can pass by right of survivorship. A real attorney will review these designations and rights of survivorship to ensure that all assets pass to beneficiaries in a way that is consistent with the client’s overall estate planning goals. Online estate planning platforms are not equipped to do this, and they don’t even raise this type of issue with users. The failure on the part of the online platforms to provide this sort of wholistic approach to planning could result in unfortunate outcomes for clients and their beneficiaries.
Online estate planning documents miss the nuances of state specific law. The first time I read a set of estate planning documents created by a leading online estate planning platform, I was shocked by what I saw… or, rather, didn’t see. Despite the documents purporting to be specifically crafted to comply with North Carolina law, there wasn’t a single reference to the North Carolina General Statutes (the laws of the State of North Carolina) to be found. Estate planning attorneys practicing in North Carolina often make reference to the North Carolina General Statutes in our documents. Sometimes we are incorporating certain statutory language into our documents by reference, other times we’re saying that certain default provisions in the law should be overridden or modified by the language in our documents, and sometimes we are simply providing a helpful reference to the law to clarify things for the end users of our documents. Intimate familiarity with state law allows attorneys to draft more effective documents. Online estate planning platforms fail to demonstrate this level of familiarity with the law, and the quality and efficacy of their documents suffers as a result.
You can maintain an ongoing relationship with a real attorney, but not with an online service. When you work with a real attorney, you develop a relationship that lasts even after your estate planning documents are signed. My clients know that I’m always happy to answer their questions and help them get the most value out of their estate plans. Can an online estate planning platform offer that kind of service? I think not.
It's true that online estate planning platforms may be convenient and cheap, but it’s also true that you get what you pay for. When it comes to your estate plan, it’s best to make sure your situation is handled by a professional with the training and experience necessary to give you what you need. Working with a real attorney may not be quite as cheap as an online service, but the value you’ll receive will more than make up for the difference in price. I invite you to see for yourself – call or email The Law Office of Ryan A. Layton, PLLC today to schedule your free estate planning consultation.
The information contained in this blog post is intended only as general legal information and should not be construed as formal legal advice on any matter, nor should its presentation be construed as intent on the part of The Law Office of Ryan A. Layton, PLLC to form an attorney-client relationship with any user of this website. For more information, please see this disclaimer.