Should You Make Your Will Yourself Using Online Forms?
I was going to write an article about this after reading in the New York Times about the increasing popularity of online estate planning programs like the Suze Orman kit and Legal Zoom. But, another attorney has already done so, and very well, so I will direct you to her article instead.
According to Kirsten Izatt, an estate planning attorney in Illinois, "Estate planning is about more than creating a set of documents; it is about making the best legal decisions for your family. There is a world of difference. The do-it-yourself kits make it easy for you to create documents; they don’t help you make good legal decisions or provide you with a trusted legal advisor who can assist your family during one of the most difficult times in their life." See the entire article here. http://klizatt.typepad.com/weblog/2007/10/do-you-like-law.html
I totally agree with Kirsten. And for Louisiana residents, these online programs and software often create more problems than they solve. Most of the estate planning software and kits that are available do not comply with Louisiana law. As Stanley said in "A Streetcare Named Desire" - "Here in Louisiana we have what is known as the Napoleonic Code…" Our laws are diffrent. We have usufructs, forced heirship, collation and other concepts that simply don’t exist in the other fifty states.
Hiring an attorney for estate planning can be expensive. And you may not have $1500 to $2500 to spend on full service estate planning. For that reason, I have come up with a streamlined estate planning solution for families with simple estates. For more information on this new offering, click here.