GladGradDad

^^ Have you considered whatever hoops your kids might need to jump through just to sell your house? Have you figured out if it's easy or difficult in your state without a living trust? Especially if one still owes on a mortgage especially, but even with real estate taxes/insurance/utilities, a delay of selling the house for a month or two (or 6) can be quite costly.

Have you taken care of things such as giving your kids some kind of authority over your bank accounts (can sometimes be done easily through the bank as long as it's done before the person's incapacitated)?

It's one thing to determine where everything will go but another thing to determine how to get it there fairly quickly and efficiently.

CountingDown

We have never had wills (and DH is an attorney)! After my recent and ongoing health issues, I'd like to get things squared away. We are also in MD and I am concerned about whether we need to retitle life insurance policies so that we (or the kids) don't get hit with surprises. The other issue that may be contentious is that I want to leave part of my life insurance policy to my kids instead of DH (he would get pretty much everything else). I don't know enough about how this stuff all works, and it has me concerned.

He and I know a couple of T&E attorneys, but DH is reluctant to think about this stuff. It's all part of the denial thing. Sigh.

somemom

When my Dad was dying I convinced him to do a Living Trust on Legal Zoom(& a will comes with that); it worked well in that we could do it at home and it was easy for them without taking up much of his dwindling energy. A trust essentially gives power of transactions to the trustee allowing you to avoid probate for the assets in the trust. It worked very well, I had no issue with any person or bank or company with whom I dealt as trustee.

If you were concerned about personal issues and potential fights, an attorney might be more important.

MJSMOM

I am an estate planning/elder law attorney and your question is one we address all the time. First of all, there is no such thing as a "simple will." And, the word "just" is usually used by potential clients as a synonym for "simple." Please re-read posts 13, 15, 18, 19, and 20 above because each contains wise advice. Yes, you can absolutely buy a Will off Legal Zoom, or maybe even in an aisle of your local Staples or Office Max. But no one will know for sure if it is any good until you are dead ... and then it's obviously too late to do anything about it other than to pay more than you would have paid in the first place for someone to fix the mess. While the end result document which an attorney prepares for you may appear to be short and sweet (or, if you prefer, simple), the document is not what you are paying for when you hire an estate planner to work with you on this important project. You are paying for the analysis, the counseling about your assets/goals/concerns/family dynamics/health/choices of fiduciaries/options to achieve your goals (including whether a living trust or some other titling strategy is more appropriate so you can avoid probate), and THEN yes, the preparation of several documents that will be your estate plan. And (no one has mentioned this yet): a lawyer will make sure that all of the formalities of the actual signing are done correctly which can be another mine field of did-it-yourself-and-did-it-wrong opportunity. If none of that convinces you to step away from Legal Zoom, I offer you this: lawyers have lots of malpractice insurance. If when you die it turns out that we did mess up, wouldn't you rather have the fix being paid by our malpractice carrier rather than your kids' pockets?

Hunt

Let me just add that many of the points made above in several posts are wrong--at least in some states. These includes things like whether you can just write it down and get it notarized (not sufficient for a valid will in some states), how insurance proceeds are treated, and more. A state-specific form might avoid some of these problems, but using a lawyer is safer.

Bay

This is an interesting bit of info. Is it possible that MIL/FIL have a significant estate that will go to you/spouse, that she is concerned about?

alh

Unless your budget is extremely tight, I don't really understand the reluctance to pay for professional advice. Even then, it sort of seems to me a necessary budget line, like buying life insurance. Of course I understand, life insurance is also a luxury many cannot afford.

I want my husband or children to get through the probate process as easily as possible. I don't expect them to necessarily understand it, especially if they are grieving. I expect the attorney who did the will to guide them. If I end up in the hospital, I expect the attorney to answer any questions they may have about the Living Will, and help if they need to use the Power of Attorney we created.

Maybe I'm just much less competent than most on this board, but I like to have a relationship with someone who actually is an expert at what they do. They ask questions and help me prepare for circumstances I couldn't have anticipated. I feel the same way about accountants.