I say this while recognizing that I also occasionally learn
useful things from the internet:
Please stop getting your estate planning advice from TikTok,
YouTube, Facebook comments, your neighbor, your bank teller, and the very
confident person at a dinner party who once served as personal representative
for an aunt in another state.
Estate planning information is everywhere right now. Some of
it is helpful. Some of it is half-helpful. Some is correct for a state you
don’t live in. Some advice is technically true but not for you.
Describing an Elephant
Most people giving estate planning “tips” are not trying to
hurt you. They are simply looking at the issue through their own professional
lens, or experience. I describe this as advisors looking at an elephant from
different ends. Each may be correct, but when it comes to your estate plan, you
want your advice coming from your estate attorney.
A well-meaning financial advisor may be adamant that you
don’t need the trust-based estate plan I set up for you, not understanding that
it has more to do with your concerns about your daughter’s alcoholism than it
does with your assets.
A banker may be confusing setting up an account for your
trust instead of titling your existing checking and savings accounts POD into
the name of your trust.
A CPA may be focused on income tax, capital gains, or estate
tax.
A realtor may be focused on transfer of real estate without
understanding why you have a ladybird deed on one property and not on another
in your estate plan.
A well-meaning adult child may have concerns that have
nothing to do with the concerns you brought up in your consultation with me.
The Internet Does Not Know Your Family
TikTok cannot know whether your child is in a bad marriage, why
I’m telling you that it’s not time to move your homestead into your trust, and whether
your beneficiary designation contradicts your will. These influencers don’t
know whether your trust was actually funded, whether your daughter should be
trustee over her brother, or whether adding someone to your bank account will
create a gift, creditor, or family problem.
Instagram does not know that one child has borrowed money
for twenty years.
YouTube doesn’t know that your children are polite at
Thanksgiving but should not be left to negotiate what you meant by a “small,
private service.”
AI Has Entered the Chat
A lot of online content online now is produced or assisted
by artificial intelligence. No offense to AI. It can be a very useful tool. It
can summarize, brainstorm, organize, and explain. It can also sound really
confident while missing legal details.
How many accounts claiming to be doctors, attorneys, gurus,
and therapists have real professionals behind them? Plenty of viral accounts
are run by people covered in Cheeto dust pretending to be people with
credentials they don’t have. They make money off of your views and clicks and
could care less about accuracy.
Please Ask Before You Act
If you’re our client, our staff can answer many of your
funding questions without a consultation. Please don’t change your deeds or
your beneficiary designations or other titles without double checking the
beneficiary or funding instructions that match your estate plan.
If your situation has changed and you need legal advice,
please schedule a consultation with me.
Keep it Real!
We are not against education – and informed clients are
wonderful! Just consider the quality of your sources.
There’s no substitute for qualified professionals and human
conversations. Before you second guess your plan or make legal changes that
affect your family, your home, your accounts, your trust, or your future
probate, please talk to someone whose job is to look at the whole picture!