Why You Need an Estate Planning Lawyer

If you think estate planning is something you can do yourself, you might want to think again. The December 2010 estate tax relief legislation raised the value of property that an individual could leave free of estate tax to $5 million adjusted for inflation each year. Another crucial change involved lowering the top federal tax rate to 40 percent.

As a result, an increasing number of people want to avoid paying for the services of a lawyer for this type of law. What they don’t realize is that estate planning is a complex business. All it takes is a single missing signature or incorrect word to alter the entire contents of a will or trust. Read on to discover three compelling reasons why you need to hire an estate planning attorney.

Specific State Laws

Each state has its own laws when it comes to determining who can and cannot be in a trust, will, medical power of attorney, or financial power of attorney. There are also differences between the formalities that must be observed when signing an estate planning document. What is required in Arizona may not be required in Florida and vice versa.

For example, some states require that a personal representative be related by marriage or blood, or must be a resident of the state. Failure to meet the above criteria means that the person will not be able to act as a personal representative.

warning emptor

This is an old Latin saying meaning “buyer beware.” The evolution of the Internet has led to a plethora of legal documents readily available online. This can make legal representation seem unnecessary. The problem is that you can fill out your online forms quite happily, only to discover that part or all of your trust, will, financial power of attorney, or medical power of attorney is invalid or not working as expected. If this happens, your family may have to pay thousands of dollars to correct the mistake, and you’ll end up hiring an estate planning attorney anyway.

Complexity

As we mentioned earlier, estate planning is a complex business, and if you own a business, are on your second marriage, have no children or children who are still minors, want to leave money for charity, or have real estate in another state, you will need the advice of an estate planning attorney. In fact, there are dozens of other situations not described above where things can quickly get messy.

Regardless of how much research you have done, you probably lack legal experience, and this could be costly. If he is not willing to pay for an estate planning attorney in an attempt to save money, his family is likely to spend 3-5 times as much money on the back-end. To make things easier for your loved ones and alleviate any stress you may be feeling, contact a trusted real estate attorney today.