Why I Left My Estate Planning to a Professional

July 08, 2016

Just a few days ago, we celebrated Independence Day by doing the traditional American thing – ate, drank and watched fireworks.  Fireworks are fun to watch and the 4th of July is always a great holiday as far as I’m concerned. Most years, I get to either be on a boat or near a marina and we watch fireworks over the water. There are usually two or three displays going on within minutes of each other, so the whole sky is lighting up, and it’s awesome to have some patriotic music playing from the speakers while enjoying the night sky lighting up. Family, friends, food, fireworks – a lot of good F words on the Fourth.

But all is not perfect even in the midst of celebrations. Last year, there were two NFL players who suffered significant injuries related to fireworks on the 4th.  Jason Pierre Paul of the New York Giants lost a portion of his hand in a grizzly accident and CJ Wilson of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost two fingers in a similar incident. Too many people are getting injured in at-home fireworks displays.

Not only are they getting hurt physically, financially, it’s a very expensive holiday! Americans will spend $800 million dollars this year. This is up almost $50 million from last year.

So let me wrap my head around this. Fireworks are expensive to shoot off at home (not to mention annoying to the neighbors who aren’t doing the same thing) and carry the risk of injury. Yep, sounds like a great plan! Maybe fireworks aren’t the best idea at home. Maybe it’s time to leave it to the professionals!

Another thing that I’m a fan of letting professionals handle is your estate plan. At one time, just about the only way to get your estate plan prepared was to visit your local attorney’s office. Today, there are a lot of low-priced software packages available at office supply stores,  there are countless free estate planning documents available on the Internet, and there are online companies like LegalZoom that can help you prepare estate planning documents.

Each of these alternatives can be a viable solution if you have very simple needs. But if your situation has more than a couple “moving parts” (kids, second marriage, second houses, owning a business, etc.) an attorney might still be the best option. Here are some basic documents and why I had a professional prepare them for me.

Will – This document lets the world know where you want “your stuff” to go after you die. My will was prepared by an attorney because my kids are still young (20, 17, 14) and if I die, there would be some money on the table from life insurance and retirement accounts. If they have my DNA, they may not become fiscally responsible until they are well out of their 20’s so my will creates a trust that doles out their inheritance at ages 25, 35 and 45 – with 25 being just a small (10 or 20%) dose, age 35 being a bigger slice of the pie and the balance paid out at 45. If they blow the age 25 payout, they will have a decade to live with that regret and the ability to make better decisions at later ages. Add in a divorce and not wanting my ex to get any assets after I die (she got plenty in the divorce), and you can see why working with an attorney was the right choice for me.

Living Will/Healthcare Power of Attorney – These documents nominate someone to talk to your medical team in the event you can’t and detail what life saving measures you want and don’t want taken in the event that you are in a grave condition. The reason that I had an attorney work with me on these documents is…Grey’s Anatomy!    When a patient gets rolled into Seattle Grace (early seasons, Grey-Sloan later) on a gurney, the ONLY thing the doctors are paying attention to is saving that patient’s life. Without getting into too much detail, my wishes aren’t to stick around if I can’t recognize my kids and friends so preserving life at all costs isn’t my plan. THAT is why it made sense for me to work with an attorney.

When it’s time for you to have your documents either prepared (NOW would be the right time if you don’t have them currently) or updated (if your life situation has changed or you have aged by more than a decade), consider the “moving parts” in your life. The greater the level of complexity in your life, the more likely it is that an attorney would be useful in drafting your estate plan. I’m not one who usually defends attorneys. I’m far more likely to make jokes about them, but when it comes to estate planning, let me be the first in line to say that they offer a service that is well worth the fee.