WHY LEGALZOOM.COM IS BETTER THAN AN ATTORNEY

Shocked to hear me, an attorney, utter sacrilege like that? Well, they claim that the documents are prepared by "top attorneys" and that you can "do it yourself" in minutes, for only a few dollars. You can be your own attorney without spending three years in law school, taking the bar, and practicing to learn the real ropes!

I recently had an opportunity to check out some LegalZoom documents. One of my friends did some Wills with simple trust planning for his kids. Each spouse left the estate to the other, but if both were deceased, they had a Common Trust for all kids until they turned 21, then money would split into shares that each child would receive in equal installments at 24, 27, and 30. They even had powers of attorney and all the trimmings.

The documents looked pretty "legal." My friend did the plan himself, in an hour or two on the weekend, and only spent a few hundred dollars. He did this rather than go to an attorney for budget reasons and scheduling difficulty given his business and family activities. That is far better than not covering this important issue, so kudos to my friend.

My take on his efforts? I thought that the documents were good from a simplistic technical perspective. I actually kind of liked them as they were well-written and clean.

How did that work compare to what I or one of my estate planning attorney colleagues would do? They were simple. They were not elegant. They did not demonstrate insight, personalization, awareness of core values important to my friends, how these would be woven into the legal documents, or any meaningful guidance into how a trust would be used by guardians of children to raise them to become the adults their parents would be proud of… How about asset protection for adult children to protect inheritance against divorce or bankruptcy? Forget it.

My friend, his wife and I went through a counseling session to identify their goals and concerns. In that session we identified a surprising number of concerns, ideas, and issues that were simply not part of the LZ Will plan.

Result? I was retained to do a comprehensive plan to address all the things that were not part of the LZ plan. We also looked over their investments, retirement planning, insurance coverage, and the separate inheritances each was to get from their own grandparents and parents. I reached out to my friend's advisers and got their help in relooking all these things to make sure that they were properly handled too.

I believe that the practice of law by a good attorney is about far more than preparation of documents. It is about listening, discerning, and identifying core values. It is about understanding what keeps clients awake at night. Then, it is about pulling together resources to resolve those concerns and to put a plan in place. But, even more important, it is about working to keep that plan tuned up so that as things change, it changes. Documents are simple. Wisdom is harder to come by.

 

Need some documents quick, that you pull together yourself? LegalZoom.com might just be the ticket for you.

Want customized solutions built on experience that you can have confidence in? Give your attorney a call, a check, and a hug when they serve you well.