It is vital for people to create estate plans when still in the right state of mind to do so. They need to ensure all their assets and belongings go to the proper parties, or else significant confusion could arise upon the person’s death.
This confusion can also occur when a person decides to create a DIY will. Numerous online services now exist that promise to create the perfect estate plan for you, but you are better off avoiding such services. Many problems can come up if you try to save a few bucks by making your own will.
1. Failure to allocate your entire estate
When you create your own will, you bear responsibility for making sure you have accounted for everything. You could easily forget you have stocks with a given company, and when you die, no one knows who now owns those stocks. An attorney will ask to review all your financial documents, forcing you to look at everything. You do not want to risk forgetting a single detail in your estate plan.
2. Improper state language
Every state in the country has its own unique laws about estate plans. There is typically a lot of overlap, but key differences exist. The will-making software you use online may not be suitable for the state you reside in. You need to be certain you use language Arizona courts abides by. A local attorney knows precisely what language to use.
3. Improper execution
A court can view an estate plan as invalid a litany of ways. One of the most common and easily avoidable is not having enough witnesses. Arizona law requires people to have two witnesses to see the signing of the will. These witnesses must not have any stake in the estate plan. Making one mistake can cause a judge to throw the entire document away.
