O.t. Legalzoom

[alancw3]

anyone have experience with legalzoom? i have to create a new revocable trust and spillover will and legelzoom offers it for $350 with a staff attorney once over review verus the $3500 (which jus about normal) i spent last time with an attorney. i also felt the the attorney(who came highly recommended) just shuffled it off to his paralegal. i realized i may have to do some work i.e. fill in blanks and get notorized but hey i can do that if i can save a substantial amount of money for beneficiaries. so anybody else use legalzoom?

[firerescuefin]

I did the opposite...spent money on the same product with legal zoom...was not happy with the finished product. Our trustee tore it to shreds ...and ended hiring a local attorney. Was much happier with the product from someone local, asked better questions, was much more aware of state specific issues we may run into.

YMMV

[djg21]

You get what you pay for.

[bikingshearer]

^^^This. When it comes to estate planning, "one size fits all" doesn't.

[alancw3]

I did the opposite...spent money on the same product with legal zoom...was not happy with the finished product. Our trustee tore it to shreds ...and ended hiring a local attorney. Was much happier with the product from someone local, asked better questions, was much more aware of state specific issues we may run into.

YMMV

thnaks for the rely. i was just wondering as i have heard legalzoom ads on the tv. i thought perhaps having been throughout this already once that it might be a better way to go. just another option.

[2LeftCleats]

Not sure about going rates but $3500 seems excessive for something that I believe is fairly standard boilerplate.

[apple]

Woah, no way! LegalZoom is great if you want to create a contract for selling your car or for someone to mow your lawn, but do not use it for something like a trust!

[earlfoss]

How big is the trust you are setting up?

How complicated is it? Leagalzoom is great for uncomplicated things but if the trust is big enough and/or complicated enough, spend the extra money to do it right.

[djg21]

Not sure about going rates but $3500 seems excessive for something that I believe is fairly standard boilerplate.

It depends on the prevailing hourly rate in the relevant market, and the work the project entails. It's not clear that the will and revocable trust are merely boilerplate and I wouldn't make that presumption not being familiar with the OP's financial circumstances and any other factors that may be relevant. This is not a good place to get legal advice.

[alembical]

$3500 is normal rate here as well.

Legal zoom can work and it can fail horribly. Unfortunately, you will never likely know... but if you become incapacitated or pass away, your family get to see if your gamble paid off.

Definitely can work okay though, but the more comfort, familiarity and knowledge you already have with the subject matter can play a large role in that. Hard to pass up savings like that though.

[jh_on_the_cape]

My financial advisor suggested legalzoom for my will (and my wife's). My sister is a trusts and estates attorney (but in another state) and she looked it over. It really depends on how complicated/large the situation is...

[firerescuefin]

$3500 is normal rate here as well.

Legal zoom can work and it can fail horribly. Unfortunately, you will never likely know... but if you become incapacitated or pass away, your family get to see if your gamble paid off.

Definitely can work okay though, but the more comfort, familiarity and knowledge you already have with the subject matter can play a large role in that. Hard to pass up savings like that though.

Our trustee (a CFP) mentioned much the same...and after looking through ours had more than a few issues. If you're asking folks to help pick up the pieces (especially if your dealing with kids/godparents/trusts)...you want things as clear concise as possible. The last thing you want is leaving it to the courts to decide what your intentions may have been. Best case scenario there, you're talking extended timelines.

[alembical]

Boilerplate means different things to different people. I am an attorney who does solely estate planning and have for more than the last 15 years. We have a couple thousand clauses and options that form our boilerplate which results in a document in Word form which I then alter and customize for the individuals. It is surprising to many just how different your plan and your neighbors might be, even if the lay person is not aware of the differences. The biggest risk with Legalzoom or the like is not really in the quality of the clauses, but in the selection of which ones. Answering the questions is often the easy part, but the determination of which questions to ask can be the challenge. A lot of factors can come into play and many people would be better off with no plan than a less than ideal plan.

[jh_on_the_cape]

many people would be better off with no plan than a less than ideal plan.

I was told the opposite by many attorneys. A relative passed away with no plan and we all wish she had had at least something.

[alembical]

States have default intestacy rules that govern what happens when a person passes with no Will or estate plan in place. That normally means things are distributed in a set manner to surviving spouse, children, or heirs at law according to state and fact specific formula. There are still lots of questions and problems, time issues, who is administering, etc... but the distribution can me a much better result under the default intestacy than a poorly drafted plan assuming that the default state specific rules match your wishes, which they quite often due.That said, a well drafted and implemented plan is much better for all than no plan.

Since many of you are mentioning trusts as well, it is also extremely important that a trust is properly funded. Many people do a trust and either do not properly fund it or keep it properly funded. That can often result in a probate which just funds the trust, which then needs to be administered, resulting in the cost of doing the trust plan, the cost of a probate (time and money) and then the cost of trust administration.

Anyone debating a trust, a will, legalzoom planning, or intestacy rules must also at least consider other alternatives such as pod/tod (pay on death, transfer on death) designations, beneficiary designations, joint tenancy, transfer on death deeds, poa (power of attorney), etc... They have pluses and minuses, like everything, and are rarely the ideal solution by themselves, but they should be considered.