Learn more, pay less

You need a will. But you probably don’t have one. Most Americans—58%—don’t. When you look at just Generation X, it’s 64%. When you look at just Millennials, it’s 78%. You know you should have a will, but like most people you “just haven’t gotten around to it.”

Want to cut to the chase? Read the TL;DR.

But in the back of your mind, you worry. What if …? What will happen to your spouse? What will happen to your kids? Will your family have what they need?

You want to provide for your family. You want to protect your family from the worst things that happen in life. You’ve seen them happen to others. That’s why you work hard. That’s why you get life insurance and save money and create a budget. And that’s why you should have a will, along with a complete legal plan for your property and your health care.

The problem is that getting a will—and the other documents that form a complete estate plan—is not the easiest thing.

You could hire a lawyer. First you’ll have to find a good estate planning lawyer in your area. You’ll have to call several law firms and set up consultations in their offices to find one you trust and to find out what they all charge (it’s not on their websites). It won’t be cheap. Then you’ll have to work with that lawyer over one or two months, probably having two or three meetings in the lawyer’s office during business hours. It’s not easy to find the right lawyer and the time and the money. Some people have the resources for it. Most people don’t. That’s why they don’t get around to it.

Or, you could do it yourself. DIY estate planning has been around for decades, and now there are online services like LegalZoom. Cutting out the lawyer makes it cheaper. But it also cuts out the assurance that the estate plan you get is the estate plan you need. Can you trust it? Will it really work when it’s needed? Will a plan like that be what you need and address all of your specific legal issues? What if you make a mistake, or miss something? In the end, the cheap DIY option has been around for decades, and yet most people still don’t have wills.

Hiring a lawyer works for some people, but not most. DIY planning works for some people, but not most. There must be another way.

What most people need, in reality, is a lawyer—but one that isn’t so expensive and inconvenient.

---

---

Without a will, your family is at risk

Until you find that affordable-and-convenient estate planning lawyer, you’re stuck with most other adults in America “just not getting around to it.” The consequences can be severe.

If you have young children but you don’t have a will, they are at risk—even if you don’t have any assets. The most important thing a will does is not distribute property; it’s naming who will have custody of your children if the worst happens. If you haven’t made your wishes known and legally effective, who knows what will happen? You can probably think of a few people you definitely do not want taking care of your children, or who at least would not be best for it. Another thing that happens too often is that well-meaning family members on either side fight. They fight not because they are mean-spirited or spiteful, but because they truly believe something about what you would have wanted or what is best for your children that conflicts with what other family members truly believe. These are terrible situations for everyone involved. It’s not only your children’s care and future at risk, but the relationships in your entire family.

Every parent with young children also needs to think about their children receiving an inheritance at age 18. If you die while your child is a minor, a guardian or conservator will be appointed to manage the property you leave to them. But as soon as they turn 18, they gain full control. I don’t know many people who think an 18-year-old is likely to manage even a few thousand dollars well. If you think your child won’t get anything because you don’t have anything, think again. You might have life insurance on the order of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, through work if not on your own. Your debt might be forgiven and not reduce your child’s inheritance—a big example is federal student loans. And even if you don’t have much now, you might have more in the future. That is, after all, what you hope and work for.

There are many other consequences to not having an estate plan, as varied as people are:

• Your spouse can’t manage your employer-provided benefits. That might be important if, for example, you lose your job, fall ill, and need to elect COBRA coverage—while you’re in a coma.
• Your spouse and family can’t make health care decisions for you. Most of the time the doctor or hospital will respect the wishes of family. But without the legal authority, it’s in the doctor’s hands. And what if your family disagrees about the best course of action?
• Your spouse can’t manage your singly-owned retirement accounts, investments, bank accounts, or real estate. Your spouse can’t sign for you when required to sell your home, change a beneficiary, or deal with your student loan.
• Your spouse or family might face a big mess trying to suddenly figure out how all the bills are paid and where all your accounts are and where the important information is.
• If you have a family member who is disabled, they might receive money from you in a way that disqualifies them from government benefits. That creates a big mess.
• Your family might lose access to your digital accounts, including things like Facebook and your digital photos.

These are just a few of the many legal issues you might need to address. These aren’t all issues for everybody, and that’s the point. The biggest reason you need a lawyer is not to draft the documents properly (though that’s important)—it’s to spot all the issues you need to address in your particular situation.

I found another way to do estate planning

So you know you need a will, and you don’t trust yourself to spot all the legal issues or draft the documents properly. Hiring a lawyer, though, is expensive, inconvenient, and time-consuming. You’re trapped between two extremes. It’s a perfect storm that explains why so many people “just haven’t gotten around to it.”

When I started my practice, I was determined to be different. I didn’t want to do estate planning the same way it had always been done. I thought there must be a better way. A more affordable and simpler way. I started by keeping my estate planning documents short and simple; not basic, like a boilerplate form, but not stuffed full of legalese and fluffy wording. I kept my overhead low; I didn’t lease a fancy office or hire an employee. I charged only flat fees, never hourly, and kept them as low as I could. But in the end, I found myself following the same basic process of one-on-one meetings with clients over several weeks. My fees were quite reasonable compared to other lawyers, but still out of reach for the kind of clients I’d like to serve most. I found there was a floor to how low my fees could go.

Then I discovered a different way to do estate planning. A way that allowed a large group of people to get good but simple estate plans with advice from attorneys. A way that made the estate planning fast. A way that made it affordable. A way that, surprisingly, has already been done in Wisconsin for years.

It’s the way Wills for Heroes does estate planning. Wills for Heroes is a charitable program (it relies on donations and volunteers) that gives simple estate planning to first responders for free. Here’s how it works:

• Organizers schedule a one-day program at a local fire department or police station.
• Before the program, participants work through a detailed estate planning questionnaire. This gives them important information about estate planning and allows them to think through important decisions and discuss them with their families.
• At the event, each participant is assigned a volunteer attorney. The attorney enters the questionnaire answers into a program that generates the documents quickly.
• The attorney then reviews the draft documents with the participant to answer questions and ensure the participant knows and agrees to what they are signing.
• Once the documents are finalized, they are signed, witnessed, and notarized in a signing ceremony.

I volunteered at a Wills for Heroes program about two years ago. It worked. It gave a good, simple estate plan to a lot of people efficiently and affordably. There’s no reason why a similar way of estate planning couldn’t work for everyone.

Wills for Heroes works because it minimizes the time lawyers have to spend with each participant. The lawyers are only used for what they are truly needed for: spotting potential issues in the questionnaires, advising the participants to ensure they know what they’re signing, and drafting/finalizing the legal documents. Most of the hard work of learning about estate planning and making tough decisions happens without the lawyers, on the participants’ own time before the program. Wills for Heroes is 80% DIY and 20% lawyer.

The same idea could work for everyone. That’s why I’m developing an estate planning program that does exactly that. It’s not the same as Wills for Heroes, but it is inspired by it. It’s not charitable, but it is affordable and available to everyone. Instead of being in-person, it will be online. Instead of working through paper forms, you will work through an online portal. Instead of one day, it will take place over the course of one month.

I think doing estate planning this way is going to be a win for everyone.

Looking for first adopters

I’ll be frank: this program is just starting. This idea is still being tested. There will be hiccups. It won’t be perfectly smooth from the start. I can’t provide you with glowing testimonials.

I think this will be worth your while, though, if you’re okay with a few bumps in the road. If you want to know more about me, you can take a look at my website and Google reviews from my past clients for more traditional estate planning. You can also look at the testimonials from the Wills for Heroes program to see how people who’ve been through a similar program feel about it.

What I’m looking for are first adopters. People who think this idea holds promise, are excited to access it first, and want to provide feedback to make it better for others in the future. All while achieving the peace of mind and security that comes from finally getting around to getting your will done.

The Forward Estate Planning program

When you sign up for Forward Estate Planning, you’ll be signing up for a one-month program of learning, decision-making, planning, and preparing legal documents. By the end of four weeks, you’ll have learned why you need an estate plan, know exactly what you need in your estate plan, have your legal documents drafted and reviewed by a lawyer (me), have your questions answered by a lawyer (me), and have your plan executed and in place.

Each week will focus on a different estate planning topic and document:

• Week 1: Health care powers of attorney and living wills. During this week, you will learn how the law affects your health care and what your rights are as a patient. You will also prepare a power of attorney for health care to name another person to make health care decisions for you if you can’t make them yourself. By the end, you’ll know that your family both knows your wishes for health care and has the legal power to manage it for you according to your wishes.
• Week 2: Financial powers of attorney. During this week, you will learn how the law affects your finances and property rights. You will also prepare a power of attorney for finances and property to name another person to manage your property and legal rights on your behalf. By the end, you’ll be assured that your spouse and other important family members can, if needed or wanted, pay the bills and manage important assets such as employer-provided benefits, government benefits, retirement accounts, and life insurance.
• Week 3: Wills and beneficiary designations. During this week, you will learn how the law affects who gets your property after your death and what you can do about it. You will learn about the probate process, what property must go through it, and how to avoid it if desired. You will also learn about beneficiary designations, transfer-on-death designations, and pay-on-death designations—ways your property gets transferred to others while bypassing your will and the probate process. And you’ll learn how to nominate a guardian to care for your children if both parents can’t. You’ll prepare a last will and testament and add or change beneficiary designations to get your property to the people you want to have it. By the end, you’ll know that your family will be provided for in the event of your death and won’t have a legal mess to deal at the worst time.
• Week 4: Executing your documents and implementing your plan. During this week, you will learn how to properly execute each of your documents and do it. You’ll then learn what to do to implement your plan and ensure it is effective. This will also be the week when I meet with you personally to review your documents, discuss any issues, customize your documents, and ensure your particular legal issues are being addressed. At the end, you’ll celebrate completing your estate planning and enjoy the peace of mind that comes from knowing you’ve provided for and protected your family from some of the worst things that can happen in the worst crises we all face.

The learning component of each week will happen through webinars, emails, and online guides. Each week will kick off with a webinar for all participants where I explain that week’s topic and teach the basics. This webinar might also include a guest expert related to the subject to add a useful perspective—for the first week, for example, I might bring on a doctor to talk about end-of-life decisions. Then, throughout the week, you will receive short daily emails to help you start thinking about the decisions you’ll need to make and prompt you to begin work on your legal document.

The document for each week will be prepared through an online portal containing apps (like a mini TurboTax). These apps will allow you to work in bite-sized chunks, provide the essential information you need, and collect data and decisions from you. Once you work through all the required apps for the week, you’ll have a draft legal document generated and sent to me for legal review. You’ll also be able to ask me questions or request personalized guidance at any time. Towards the end of the week, I’ll host an online Q&A session to address the most common questions and anything else that might be helpful to the entire group.

Throughout your month of Forward Estate Planning, your information will always be kept confidential. Although you’ll be part of a group going through the same process together, other participants will not be able to see any of your information. My policy is to keep every participant anonymous. If I think one person’s question or situation might be helpful to discuss with the rest of the group, I will ask for permission to share.

What you’re getting with Forward Estate Planning is not just a bundle of legal documents. It’s knowledge of the law and how it affects you and your family. It’s the experience that comes from working through things yourself. It’s the assurance the comes from having a lawyer guiding and reviewing your plan. Most importantly, it’s the peace of mind that comes from finally “getting around to it.” All because you can finally get it—a will and a complete estate plan—without the price and inconvenience of hiring a traditional lawyer and without the risks of doing it all yourself.

Sign up

Now’s the time to take action. The October Forward Estate Planning group starts October 4.

The first step is to attend my webinar about the program. This is a free webinar that will teach you the foundational principles of estate planning and introduce my Forward Estate Planning process in more detail. After the webinar, you will receive a link to sign up for the Forward Estate Planning group if you decide to join.

I will be presenting the webinar the week before the program starts. If you can’t make it, you should still register—you’ll receive an email to watch the recorded webinar after it’s done, and you’ll still get the chance to join the group.

• The next webinar is Friday, October 2, 2020 at 12:15-1:00 p.m. Click here to register.

What’s the cost?

If you decide to join the next Forward Estate Planning group after the webinar, that’s when you’ll officially sign up and pay. The price is $225 per person ($450 per couple).

---

Thank you for your interest. I’m excited to offer something truly unique with Forward Estate Planning. I hope it makes good, simple estate planning more accessible and affordable for everyone.

BSW