fbpx

August 5

Drafting Your Will to Avoid Lawsuits

0  comments

Drafting Your Will to Avoid Lawsuits

Put this under “Why LegalZoom isn’t the right place to get your Will done.”

You can obviously pay much less doing a “do-it-yourself” Will than you will by having me do it. Often a client will ask me why they should pay me to do their documents when the internet offers many document preparation services for around $100. The answer isn’t unlike others you have heard about other DIY services: it’s not so much about what you’re saving now, as what you’re setting yourself up to spend later.

If you want to do something in your Will that ends up being reviewed by a Court or by beneficiaries who aren’t happy with your plans, you’re in bad shape. As you probably know, many lawyers charge hundreds of dollars per hour. Worse, it is common practice in New Jersey for the decedent’s estate to pay for all lawyer’s fees in most cases. Given several lawyers’ involvement, your savings of a few hundred dollars could be gone in literally almost no time at all. Consider that I was recently asked to attend a meeting whereby my client and my adversary would try to reach a settlement on an estate issue. The combined legal fees for that one meeting were over $500 PER HOUR. That time started from the time I got in my car, until the time I got back to my office. That one meeting, at which no real progress was made, cost the estate several thousand dollars, and the case isn’t any closer to being over. Even ten thousand dollars worth of planning would have been a savings over what this case is going to cost the litigants by the time it’s over. If your family has been known to squabble amongst itself, you should have a lawyer review your documents to be safe.

Archer Law Office Can Help

For More Information Contact this office (609) 842-9200


Tags


You may also like

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked

{"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}