Alternative Will and Medical Directive Sources?

[stephenson]

We’re retired military so have access to the local Navy base legal department staff to prepare Wills and Medical Directives - no trusts or more complex documents, though.

Now no longer working, have planned to work with a local attorney on living trusts for us both.

It occurred to me that there may or may not be a reason to get the wills and medical directives produced by the same attorney ... my initial thought is that the Will and Medical Directive stand on their own, so the obviously more expensive trust attorney would simply refer to them.

Then if further occurred to me that perhaps the military attorney system, that I have used over many years - and it is generally a legal “mill” with near zero personal interface and very, very generic looking documents - might not be the best course of action?

Other options include simply preparing it myself using software matched to my state - Florida.

Would appreciate experience and thoughts?

[Dtail]

Also in Florida. I don't have any of these types of documents set up yet, so looking forward to the responses.

[CaliKid]

The military documents are an ok back up until you get your trust in place. Your trust attorney will do a new will (since it will be a pour over will) and likely a new health care directive (so they use their forms). I doubt the cost will be any different if they do the health care directive or not so just get them all done by an actual experienced estate planning attorney. There are way too many ways for people to mess these things up... and people likely won't know until you are gone that it was messed up.

[38Chevy454]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaliKid I doubt the cost will be any different if they do the health care directive or not so just get them all done by an actual experienced estate planning attorney. There are way too many ways for people to mess these things up... and people likely won't know until you are gone that it was messed up.

My thoughts also. While I can appreciate the save money with the military legal help, to me this is one area where having it done in one document and by a professional specializing in that area is the proper way to get it done.

[Souschef]

In California, it cost us $400 to have an estate attorney draw up a package that included POA's for both health and financial matters, and pour over wills for both of us.
All our finances have either beneficiary or TOD's set up.

[OldShooter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaliKid ... just get them all done by an actual experienced estate planning attorney. There are way too many ways for people to mess these things up... and people likely won't know until you are gone that it was messed up.

+++++ 1 !

The documents themselves simply implement an estate plan, which as @CaliKid points out, is easy for non-experts to mess up. The probability of things getting messed up increases if pieces of the task are farmed out to different technicians. After many years in project management I am confident in guaranteeing this.

As a percentage of our estate, the legal fees spent to create our estate plan and for its periodic tune-ups are measured in basis points. I suggest that you compare your potential legal costs to the value of your expected estate and decide whether it is really smart to cheap-out in this area.

And @CaliKid is absolutely correct in pointing out that mistakes may not be found until you're gone. My wife was an SVP in investments and trusts at a major bank and I couldn't tell you how many times she came home with a horror story about badly drafted documents and the problems they created. Often the issues are tax-related but they can also stress or destroy family relationships.