The Hughes Law Firm

Yesterday I had a little spare time, so I decided to surf the net to see what was out there about estate planning…and man, did I find plenty. Most of what I found were websites that promised a flawless estate plan—complete with a living trust—for under a hundred bucks. They all claimed how easy it was to “do-it-yourself” and avoid the expense of an attorney. Some even promised you could do it all in less than 30 minutes.

Intrigued at the prospect that an internet program could so completely replace me, I signed on to LegalZoom.com and paid the money to generate my comprehensive, all-inclusive estate plan for the low, low price of $149.

Well, first of all, it took what seemed like an eternity just to register and supply all of the information requested. I could visualize other registrants, toiling like me, dropping off the site like flies.

Do-it-yourself projects are so intimidating. Even though I have over 30 years experience planning estates for others. I found myself questioning the accuracy of the answers I was giving the computer…as if I were an amateur! I could only imagine what a lay person must be feeling.

I couldn’t stop thinking about how obsessed some people are about saving money. I don’t like paying the electrician or the dentist or the mechanic any more than the next guy, but I know it’s simply a reality of life that you’ve got to pay the piper from time to time when stuff happens in areas of expertise that we’re clueless in. Slaving away in this program seems so…so cheap feeling to me, and I’m one of the all-time, certifiable, world-class tight wads! Just ask my kids and their mother and all of my employees.

But come on…entrusting the disposition of my one-and-only, hard-fought estate to a machine that hasn’t even met me, doesn’t know about the dreams and aspirations I have for my children, my values, what strengths and weaknesses my children possess and how I want the future to look for them when there’s a pot of gold sitting at their feet?

This legal zoom thing looks like it’s going to belch out some mighty pretty documents, but how in the world can they fit me correctly when the creator hasn’t so much as said “Boo” to me?

The further I go with this zoom program, the more uncomfortable I get, but I press onward to completion. I know what I want, and I know that what I’m going to get back in the mail isn’t going to cut it. The program just isn’t sophisticated enough to include all of the variables I need and want. It’s not that I’m so complecated, it’s just that I know what should be part of a professional product that’s worth the money folks spend to get a professional result.

I give seminars on estate planning almost every week all around the city. People flock to them. Why? Can’t they go to the internet and do it all themselves? Can’t they just go out and buy a fill-in-the-blank set of forms and save some dough?

Sure, the internet is one of my competitors, but as long as there are careful, caring and conscientious parents out there that understand that good family inheritance planning is so much more than just a bunch of pretty papers, there will always be a need for truly customized planning that can occur only with personal interaction between client and attorney doing it the old fashioned way…talking.

I invite you to attend one of my upcoming free seminars. You’ll be amazed at how many interesting ideas there are out there that you can use to leave your estate to your family in the proper way and protect yourself all along the way. I’ll teach them to you. You’ll understand. We’ll talk.

Filed under: Colorado Estate Planning, Colorado Trusts by Richard Hughes