What legal fees can accomplish that zoom autocomplete cannot do is to lay out all the different options for the exceptions in life, such as money to grandkid(s) if your son/daughter dies while still married, or if divorced, and the kids are still young. By whom the money is to be managed and then used until the document decides the grandkids are old enough to receive all the money and not blow it, such as age 30, or exclusively for education, higher or any or partial distributions by age. . . . Or in the case of an offspring marrying a spouse with kids from a prior marriage, as well as specifying a chain of executors if one unexpectedly dies, as long as you want it to be. . .
No one knows how they will die, or if they will become incapacitated prior to death for a long time, (dementia or alzheimers) and what will happen to their children during their lifetime or afterwards. . or their grandkids, etc. Medicare nursing home has its own set of rules in case you want to go that route, so that you can minimize how much it will take before paying 100% for you. . .
That's why a lawyer takes a while to discuss options about which you may not have thought, or for which you have planned.
I know of one trust which the husband had a second marriage, he subsequently died, and the trust wasn't updated, and allowed the second wife to take all the money, and the father's kids got no money, and they were fairly wealthy. . . My dad had to go to court to defend his sister's trust against a grifter who wrote a fake will on a napkin, and submitted it to the court after the time limit expired by a D- law school graduate who took it to court to try to get some money. . . So timely distribution is also key in today's world. . . one can never envision all the potential pitfalls which lie ahead as the future is uncertain, and that is difficult for the untrained human mind to accept
so, I recommend not using your google accredited degree and see a practicing elder law attorney for the cost of $2K to $3K if you have significant wealth, and kids and/or grandchildren. . .
the good side is that you will never know about the mess you created after you die.
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