Lots of people roll up their sleeves and save a few bucks by changing the oil in their cars.
Some folks disdain the assistance of professional money managers and make their own mutual fund selections.
And some people even forgo doctors and self-medicate, thinking that they can glean everything they need to know from a google search.
Indeed, we are now in a world of do-it-yourselfers, many who believe that downloadable boilerplate forms and attendant generic documents are all that is needed to enable a lay person to just as adequately do the work that a professional adviser would otherwise undertake.
Two expert commentators point out in a recent article that such an assumption can yield starkly adverse consequences in a hurry when it comes to estate planning, where complexity typically reigns in a big way and there are myriad state and federal laws to deal with.
Are you soundly trained in matters relating to will construction, trust creation, inheritances, estate-tax considerations, legal gifting, special-needs rules, probate, planning considerations relevant to family deaths and/or remarriages, financial powers of attorney, health care directives and additional considerations?
Rest assured that a proven and client-empathetic estate planning attorney — especially one who is also a certified public accountant — commands deep acumen regarding all those topics, and can help an individual or family optimally fashion a plan that fully takes account of all of them, as applicable.
A google paragraph or two, coupled perhaps with a two-minute YouTube spiel, might fully suffice as a primer enabling a novice to change the oil in a car or effect a simple home repair.
Boilerplate fixes command little relevance in the estate planning realm, though, where every planning scenario is distinctly different from all others.
Getting it wrong in estate planning can yield materially and permanently adverse consequences.
Getting it right, though, can promote a family’s peace of mind and ensure that an envisioned future can reasonably be realized through the enactment of a tailored, well-considered and periodically revisited strategy.