Posted On: FEBRUARY 2025
Interested in trying to prepare your own estate plan? There are resources available to assist you, such as online services, computer software and how-to books. Do-it-yourself (DIY) estate planning may save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars up front.
If your estate is modest in size, your assets are solely in your name, and you intend to leave them to your spouse or other closest surviving family member, an online service may be a cost-effective option. However, in all but the simplest cases, the risk of unintended results or costly disputes often outweighs any initial savings.
Part of the problem is that online services can help you create individual documents. The good ones can even help you comply with applicable laws, such as ensuring the right number of witnesses to your will. However, they can’t help you create an estate plan. Putting together a plan means determining your objectives and coordinating a collection of carefully drafted documents designed to achieve those objectives. And in most cases, that requires professional guidance.
For example, let’s suppose John’s estate consists of a home valued at $750,000 and a mutual fund with a $750,000 balance. He uses a DIY tool to draft a will, leaving the home to his daughter and the mutual fund to his son. This arrangement appears fair. But suppose that, by the time John passes away, he has sold the home and reinvested the proceeds in his mutual fund. Unless he amended his will, his daughter would end up with nothing, effectively disinheriting her. An experienced estate planning advisor would have anticipated such contingencies and ensured that John’s plan treated both children fairly, regardless of the specific assets in his estate.
DIY tools tend to fall short when a decision demands a professional’s experience rather than mere technical expertise. For example, an online service might make it easy to name a guardian for your minor children, but it can’t help you evaluate the many characteristics and factors that go into selecting the best candidate.
© 2025