LegalZoom is an online legal-document generator. It claims it can create wills, business formation documents for LLCs, and other documents. Legal Zoom has a one-size-fits-all approach to creating legal documents. However, estate planning and business formation are the opposites of one-size-fits-all. No two wills are the same and no two business are the same. There are many different nuances and special situations that LegalZoom does not account for.
Legal Zoom lacks customization in estate planning, leading to issues with alternative executors, guardianship nominations, validity, and the will’s standing in court. Legal Zoom also lacks customization when it comes to business document creation.
LegalZoom does not account for many unforeseen situations an experienced attorney would consider when creating a will. Events like deaths, births, marriages, divorces, adoptions, and more events that LegalZoom does not take into consideration that may impact your will.
According to the State Bar of Wisconsin, for a will to be valid, it must be in writing, and you must date and sign it. Then at least two witnesses must also sign the will after watching you sign it. If this process does not occur, then your will is not valid, and your wishes will not be followed when you go through the probate process. At Konstantakis Law Office, all wills are properly validated with witnesses and signatures in person during your appointment, ensuring that your wishes are followed.
LegalZoom may have you select an executor for your will to carry out your wishes in probate court. However, if the primary executor that you selected dies before you, or rejects their role, then the probate court must appoint an administrator for the will, who may or may not follow your wishes. LegalZoom does not cover alternative executors, which puts your estate plan and wishes at risk.
It is important to designate a guardian for minor children in the scenario that both parents die simultaneously. However, if you designate co-guardians for your children, then LegalZoom does not account for divorce or death of the guardians you designate. For example, you designate your brother and his wife (your sister-in-law) as your children’s guardians, but your brother dies or gets divorced. Now your sister-in-law is still listed as a co-guardian, even though you only wanted her to take care of your children with your brother. An experienced estate planning attorney would help implement appropriate contingency plans for deaths, divorces, births, adoptions, and more that the simple one-size-fits-all approach that LegalZoom takes does not account for.
Wills created using LegalZoom do not stand up in court as effectively as a will created in a law office because it is easier for someone to claim that the person who created the will was incapacitated and incapable of fully signing it. If someone is truly incapacitated, then the will is invalid. For example, someone could create a will online using LegalZoom, print it off and have you sign it as the authenticator without fully understanding what you are signing off on, which creates issues in court. On the other hand, with a will created in a law office, the lawyer who helped create the estate plan can attest that the person who signed it was not incapacitated, which stands up in court more effectively than a will created using LegalZoom.
Similar to LegalZoom’s problem with estate planning documents, LegalZoom does not account for enough customization to create an effective LLC document. In addition, it is essential to contact an experienced attorney who is familiar with a state’s laws in terms of business formation. Creating a business is a complex process which requires help from an attorney, not just filling out an online one-size-fits-all template. LegalZoom also does not account for changes in the law and will not notify you or adapt your documents accordingly. However, Konstantakis Law Office has proven its ability to adapt and inform clients of changes. For example, after the Corporate Transparency Act, Konstantakis Law Office contacted all past clients to inform them of the changes and to advise them on how to proceed.
Using LegalZoom is often more harmful than helpful. It falsely makes you believe your future is taken care of when in reality you created an invalid will or incorrect business document using their services. Therefore, you must hire an experienced attorney when creating an estate plan or/and LLC to ensure that your documents are complete, accurate, and valid.
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