Legal Zoom for a simple Will

Parent Cafe
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<p>Well - I finally have confirmation that H is a fan of CC, since he asked me explicitly to post this question on “that College Confidential thing”… ;)</p>

<p>No lectures please, but H and I don’t have a will. MIL has been nagging us for years and we’ve just never gotten around to it. We really don’t HAVE much, just our home, savings, my 401(k), his db pension plan. So we don’t need anything more than the basic, “Leave it all to my spouse, if we both kick, split it evenly and give it to the kids” type of thing.</p>

<p>Have any of you used Legal Zoom for a will (or for any other simple legal document)? Is there any reason that we would want to use an attorney instead? What would be talking for attorney’s fees for a simple will? </p>

<p>Any other suggestions/thoughts/comments? Thanks, CC friends!</p>

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<p>I’m real big on using a real lawyer instead do-it-yourselfing. Lawyers don’t charge much to do a will, and it could cost the surviving spouse later a lot of money if a lawyer needs to clean up a botched do-it-yourself will.</p>

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<p>No will here either. I did google MD state law, and found I had no complaints about the intestate distributions. If I had, I would have made a bigger effort. One house. One car. One kid who has passed her majority. No exes or steps. No extended family that need financial provisions. A will would be useful to protect the odd heirloom I suppose, but if I’m gone that won’t matter to me anyway.</p>

<p>That said, my lawyer girlfriend & I are getting together soon to set up the powers of attorney for the three of us. I don’t want Happykid to have to struggle to get access to our financials if/when we start to lose our faculties.</p>

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<p>Honestly, I think when you have a legal issue, even if it’s something like a simple will, go to someone who knows what he/she is doing (a lawyer). If you had a plumbing problem, you wouldn’t go online to see how to fix it. Same with a car problem. A simple will won’t cost that much. IMO–it’s worth the peace of mind.</p>

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<p>Many people do fix simple plumbing or car problems</p>

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<p>My advice is go to an attorney. We actually did legal zoom for a will and then had to change it, so we went to an attorney and the costs were barely over what legal zoom charged, but the peace of mind it was done “right” was worth way more than the cost. Ours is also a non complicated will.</p>

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<p>Just because an attorney prepared the will how do you know it was done “right”? You really do not know until someone dies if the will was done right.</p>

<p>There are many attorneys that represent clients in issues that they really are not experts. I realize they should not but it happens.</p>

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<p>Seems to me that if you’ve got something as important as a will, you ought to spend a few bucks and go to someone who knows what he/she is doing. And, yes, there are lawyers who aren’t competent, but it’s not that hard to get recommendations for lawyers from folks you trust. I’m not one of those folks who thinks she can do anything as well as a professional. If you’re going to spend money for Legal Zoom–which is probably a one-size-fit-all package–then why not spend a few more bucks and get something that fits your particular situation?</p>

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<p>I would agree that the vast majority of people should hire professionals to do most things however if your will is just going to lay out that your assets are distributed in the same manner that State law requires if you die without a will what does the preparation of the will actually do. Also should your will be prepared by the attorney who did your real estate closing or the attorney who defended you in traffic court. Better yet the attorney that sued your stock broker or the attorney who represented your brother in law at his criminal trial. All of them can prepare a will what makes them experts?</p>

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<p>Or maybe your real estate attorney does wills also since they are essentially contracts. Or works with someone who does wills/estate planning full time. Hire a professional–it won’t cost that much for a simple will and he/she will be more versed in your state laws than Legal Zoom would. Better safe than sorry (and I do know some people who are sorry).</p>

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<p>What should the cost of a simple will be? Also which State do you live? Is $500 reasonable?</p>

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<p>I’m interested to find out if Legal Zoom is adequate for a simple will. </p>

<p>DH and I have a will (done for us by a lawyer) but my brother used Legal Zoom. He is single and so his assets will go to our parents and me. It’s a very simple will. We have wondered if what he has for a will is sufficient or if he needs to crack open his wallet some more and see an attorney. And a visit to an attorney will cost more than ‘a few bucks.’ Come on, let’s be honest about that.</p>

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<p>I AM an attorney, and I’m going to hire a trusts-and-estates lawyer to redo my will. I did the first one myself, and it’s pretty simple–but the reason you get a lawyer is because you don’t know what you don’t know.</p>

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<p>And no matter how simple things are–change your will with your circumstances!</p>

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Also, it’s not just what kinds of assets you have, but what they are worth, that may make it advisable to have a more complicated will.</p>

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<p>Yes–billable hours can be big $$$ if you’re going with a big time law firm. However, if you are concerned about your estate (no matter how big or small) maybe it’s worth $2K instead of $500 for legal zoom (I’m making those numbers up–I don’t know the difference). Why cheap out on something that’s really important to you? I don’t understand trying to save money in a situation where results are really important.</p>

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<p>I think the question is for a simple estate does the attorney really make a difference. I change the oil on my Chevy I most likely would not do it if I owned a Jaguar.</p>

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<p>What’s a simple estate? That’s the issue. I guess if the likely total assets at death are expected to be well under a million bucks, and they don’t involve anything complicated (like a family business, or a share in some family real estate), and there aren’t many likely heirs, and the heirs are all going to take equal shares, then a form will will probably be OK. But a lawyer can help with the whole package, which may also include powers of attorney, living wills, advice on life insurance etc. The lawyers use forms, too–you pay them to know which forms fit your situation the best.</p>

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<p>If you have a simple estate and it is less than $1 million then perhaps a will you create yourself (with or without software) might be adequate. But there are several other issues that a good estate attorney will bring up including:</p>

<p>1) Do you have any minor children? Then you will probably want to appoint a guardian.</p>

<p>2) If you should die when your kids are 19 years old, do you want them to get all your assets immediately, or would you prefer some sort of trust arrangement, which could delay their getting the assets until age 25 or 30 or whatever? $1 million is a lot for a 19 year old to deal with.</p>

<p>3) What if one or both of you become incompetent, through accident or disease? You probably want to have both a living will and a durable power of attorney for medical issues.</p>

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<p>I don’t think you’re looking at this correctly. You ‘think’ it’s simple but there can be complications. It’s not the ‘will’ so much as the ‘estate’. </p>

<p>If it was just a will it’d be easy - you just write down on a piece of paper how you want things distributed, who will be the executor of the will (with succession), and then ideally, sign it, have it notarized, and give copies to the heirs. There’s not much more to it than that.</p>

<p>But - depending on what state you live in, it might not be so easy to just sell your house. It might need to go to court and that might take months and cost more than you might expect. It might also be difficult for the successor to gain access to your bank accounts, credit card accounts, 401K proceeds (if they’re not specifically named), etc. </p>

<p>However, an attorney hopefully will talk to you about creating a living trust which can make all of the above much quicker and simpler for your heirs.</p>

<p>On the will and even on the trust - even if ‘you’ are gone and therefore might no longer have a care in the world, I expect you’d like to make things as easy and straightforward as possible for your descendants, especially in their time of grief. If there’ll be more than one person inheriting, it’s helpful if you can specify that you want the inheritance split equally (or whatever), and designate exactly who you want to end up with heirlooms, expensive items, things like wedding rings, and anything else of a large emotional or monetary value. Failure to do this can cause some real strife in some families as the heirs start bickering or fighting over who gets what.</p>

<p>And the above didn’t touch on a ‘Living Will’/power of attorney, which is something totally different but as dadx3 said, is important as you approach an age where medical issues are likely to arise.</p>

<p>So - I suggest you go see an estate attorney.</p>

<p>(Note - I’m not an attorney but have just gone through some of the above)</p>