The Internet revolution of the last decade has replaced many high-touch services with cost effective, “do-it-yourself” (DIY) alternatives. A classic example of this is booking travel. Before Orbitz and Expedia came along, most of us had to use a travel agent to book flights and hotel rooms. The decision to use DIY services is usually related to the amount of risk involved. After all, while booking travel yourself is a relatively risk-free affair, doing your own medical treatment after consulting a medical site is not. In fact, when it comes to medical matters, most people opt for a real doctor irrespective of how much cheaper the DIY alternative is. As expected, the field of estate planning is not immune to the DIY phenomenon. There are plenty of websites and software packages which allow people to draft their own wills and trusts. These products are certainly more economical than the services of an attorney. Yet the question remains: is DIY estate planning a good idea? Although having some estate planning documents is better than having none, I find that DIY estate plans often have serious problems, which severely impact their usefulness. Below, I’ve listed five common pitfalls with DIY estate planning. 1. No attorney asking questions. A key to preparing a good estate plan is asking the right questions. Through questions, an estate planning specialist is able to prepare a set of documents precisely tailored to their client. Unfortunately, DIY estate planning lacks this level of interaction and can lead to serious issues. For example, unlike many DIY solutions, an attorney will ask not only when you’d like to make distributions to your children, but also for what purposes. This is important because it allows you to create provisions such as “from ages 18 to 23, your children will get a distribution only if they are pursuing a college education.” 2. One size fits none. To make DIY forms palatable to a non-attorney, they cannot have too many options. They must be simple to follow and understand. This simplicity inevitably leads to a “one-size-fits-none” plan because family specific circumstances are not addressed. For example, a couple with a newborn baby and few assets will have very different needs from a couple who has adult children and property ownership from a prior marriage. An attorney will almost certainly prepare completely different plans for each couple, whereas DIY tools are likely to generate a the same plan. 3. People make mistakes. Whether created by attorneys or not, estate plans can contain mistakes and those mistakes can have major consequences. If a non-attorney makes a mistake, they will have no recourse. On the other hand, attorneys have malpractice liability insurance, which means that in case of a mistake, their clients do have recourse: they can sue and recover damages. (On a separate note, it is a good idea to ask your attorney whether they carry malpractice coverage). 4. Estate Planning is state specific. Many people do not realize that estate planning is state specific. Estate plans are typically created by an attorney licensed to practice in a specific state. However, many DIY forms are not state specific and are actually designed to be deliberately general in order to comply with the laws of all states. 5. Formalities not followed. There are some formalities that must be followed in order for your documents to be valid. One crucial step in estate planning is “funding a trust,” which means that all assets should be owned by you as the trustee of your trust and not as you as an individual. Many people create a trust, but do not property “fund” it. As a result, at their death, the trust is “empty” and their estate passes according to the state’s probate laws, instead of the trust they created. As a savvy consumer, I often opt to do things myself instead of paying a premium for it. Yet, I also realize that some things are just too important and are definitely worth investing in. To me, estate planning is one of them.