Hello and welcome to our show 60 Seconds with Sergio.
I am your host, Sergio Cabanas, Attorney-at-Law here in Florida.
Thank you for joining me today.
Today’s question is: “Sergio, I need an Estate Plan but I think I’ve found some simple forms online that I can fill out for a fraction of the price of hiring an attorney.
Can I just fill out these forms and make my own Estate Plan?
So, I know you’re expecting me, as an attorney here in Florida, to recommend that you should hire an attorney. and you would be correct.
But let me explain why.
First, let’s understand the purpose of an Estate Plan.
If you think about it, an Estate Plan is basically a collection of legal documents that list all of your instructions for your family to follow in the event of any tragedy, such as you becoming incapacitated, or if you were to pass away.
An Estate Plan may include a trust, a last will & testament, a power of attorney, and other important documents.
Let’s just take a moment to examine what I just said.
These are documents your family will be using in a time of crisis.
Such as when you become incapacitated or if you pass away.
Your family is already experiencing a lot of confusion, a lot of emotions, grieve, depression, sometimes even panic.
These are documents that you’re giving to them to help you and themselves in this huge time of crisis.
If you don’t have a proper Estate Plan, the people you love and you care about who are already going through an emotionally challenging crisis, will be subjected to numerous problems.
That’s the last thing you wanted to happen.
These problems can range from them having to hire another attorney to spend substantially more money to go through an expensive, time consuming, court proceeding.
Such as a guardianship or probate.
They could’ve also have to deal with your creditors.
They would have to deal with their creditors.
They could be dealing with other tax issues that could’ve been avoided.
Worst yet, there could be many disagreements and arguments within your family, causing the family to fracture.
Which causes more problems for the people that you love and care about.
And remember, these are the problems you wanted to avoid.
So now that we understand the importance of these legal documents, we should then turn to whether we should use these online forms.
I know you can see where I’m heading with his.
By now, you should know that the Internet is an excellent resource.
Some of the information is good, but a lot of it is bad.
Or they may not be applicable to your situation.
I know because I have personally reviewed and seen these forms for myself.
Many of these forms are generic and not tailored to your specific situation.
That’s mistake number 1.
Many of these forms are not even legally valid in your state.
Also, many of these forms are outdated by new ever-changing laws.
Any one of these problems could serve to invalidate your entire plan.
Your time and money would’ve been wasted and you and your family may be worse off.
So, now that we understand how important this is, don’t take chances with something so important for you and your family.
Consult an experienced attorney who can help you through this process and get it done right.
You want to make sure your family has the right tools at hand to get through your crisis.
I hope this short video provided you with some guidance about the importance of having the proper, the right, legal Estate Plan for you and your family in the event of any emergency.
Thank you for joining me today.
And as always, stay informed, so you can stay strong.