I used to try home repairs more than now. Experience can be such a tough teacher. On one notable occasion, my do-it-yourself plumbing “repair” caused a flood inside my house. I was so sure, before the fact, that the initial problem (the constant drip, drip, drip from a leaky valve) would require a simple fix. not so If you’ve ever seen Mickey Mouse play the role of the sorcerer’s apprentice, you can imagine my panicked response when water started pouring all over the floor, through the ceiling, etc. “Our first homeowners claim,” my wife commented matter-of-factly, as we surveyed the damage she had unleashed. As embarrassing as the whole situation was for me personally, the hit on my wallet hurt even more. The dollars I was hoping to save by doing the work myself were actually paid multiple times to satisfy my homeowners policy deductible.
So, I’ve learned to leave a lot of “simple” repairs to the more qualified. Similarly, I have found in my estate planning practice that people who try to do it on their own risk creating major headaches for themselves. Case in point: A few years ago, a new client came to me after her attempt to sell his house was completely thwarted by some do-it-yourself estate planning. It all started when he inherited a house from his parents’ estate. He decided it would be easy to add his three youngest children to the title deed. As she explained to me, long after the fact, her intention was to protect the rights of the children on the property in the event of her death. With that in mind, she purchased a fill-in-the-blank quitclaim deed at her local stationery store and recorded the deed. Not long after, when she decided to sell the property, she learned that adding her minor children to the title created big problems: for the title company, which would not insure the transaction because of the underage sellers; for the prospective buyer of it, who wouldn’t proceed without title insurance; for her lender; and for herself. Too late, my client realized that her attempt at estate planning on her own was just as good as my plumbing repair exercise.
I have heard variants of this sad story from other estate planning professionals. It seems that it is not uncommon for well-intentioned people to attempt to prepare their own estate plan without professional advice. I guess access to all that free information via the internet, the proliferation of legal do-it-yourself kits, and the completely understandable desire to save a few bucks wherever possible have led more than a few enterprising consumers to boldly go where they eventually go. they realize they want. they hadn’t. Having stood with wet shoes in the puddles created by my do-it-yourself plumbing, I can certainly sympathize. As I learned, and as my client learned, good professional advice can protect you from costly mistakes.
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