How Trustworthy is Trust Creation Software?
It seems these days there is "do-it yourself"
software for just about
everything - including estate planning.
Christopher W. Yugo, member of the
Indiana Bar and Vice President of the
Trust Department of Centier Bank was
recently asked, "If I prepare the trust
correctly [using estate planning
software] and title my assets into the
name of the trust, will there be any
difficulties for the successor trustee?"
Mr. Yugo's short answer, was, if the
trust is prepared correctly and fully
funded, the successor trustee shouldn't
have too much trouble administering
the trust. However, his more thought provoking
answer was, how can you
be assured you prepared the trust
correctly? Granted, the software is
probably full of tips and wizards, and
the internet can be an endless resource,
but how can you be sure you've
structured the trust to meet your
specific needs? Who determined a trust
was the most appropriate estate
planning vehicle for you in the first
place? What if you didn't prepare it
correctly? What recourse do your heirs
have? An estate planning professional
can be held accountable. How can you
hold software accountable?
Although many will question whether
they really need to spend the money on
a professional, the experience of
numerous lawyers has been that you
will spend more money fixing a do-it yourself
blunder than you would have
spent initially to have an attorney draft
the plan correctly from the beginning.
Source: Northwest Indiana News, 5-14-06
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