eLawyering: Are online estate planning services worth it?

LegalZoom and RocketLawyer are two of the many online services that allow individuals to create their own wills at low costs. Many times they are below the cost for a single hour of legal time from an attorney. The real question is whether they are a good value for individuals. Rebecca Kennedy with Everyday Simplicity Blog has a detailed analysis of the positives and negatives where she quotes a previous article on some of the problems with RocketLawyer that I previously wrote about.

Rebecca states that although the prices are low and may serve your needs, you are taking a risk by using these document services to create estate planning documents. She points to the following:
What if the will is not valid after you die?
What if the incorporation documents are not respected or as complete as necessary in a future civil suit.
What if your assets are not protected because of the choices that were made?
What if divorce documents are not valid?

With LegalZoom or RocketLawyer you have to hope that you get far more than you pay for.

Legal Zoom and RocketLawyer cannot and do not claim to be up to date with the ever changing state laws and do not offer any legal advice.

Often I see clients who have created perfectly valid legal documents with free or low cost providers but do not realize the problems they have created by executing them. Many families are unable to get Medicaid coverage for their loved ones because they executed a deed to transfer property. The use of an attorney offers far more than creating documents; the lawyer will examine your current and future circumstances to make sure the choice you are making will not cause problems down the road.

If you are looking to create a Florida Will or Florida Estate Planning document Contact a Florida Estate Planning Lawyer to discuss your circumstances and create documents that do what you want.

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