Currently, there are many alternatives to hiring an estate planning attorney to create your estate plan. Consumers are overwhelmed with books, web sites, and software that promise to provide a complete estate plan for a fraction of the cost of hiring an attorney. An article in Forbes discusses just why do-it-yourself trusts can be so risky. Even for estates that seem simple, there are countless nuances in estate planning law that non-lawyers simply would not think of. Beyond legal nuances, simple errors can also lead to expensive problems down the road. In one instance, a client decided to make his own trust using a 3-page form he purchased at an office store. The man meant to transfer the deed to his home into the trust, but accidentally dated the deed one-year prior to the actual date. Later, when the man attempted to borrow against the house, he was not able to because the title company determined that he did not have a clear chain of title to the home. It ended up costing the man approximately $2,000 in legal fees to fix the problem. According to the article, this is approximately twice what he would have had to pay in 1984, when he drafted the document, to have a law firm create the trust for him. To speak with an estate planning professional about creating a trust, or for any other estate planning questions, call us at 818.956.9200.