That is my problem with services such as Legalzoom or “prepaid legal svces”
IANAL, but I have worked as a paralegal and was fairly involved in 2 lawsuits I brought. (And lost both)
You are exactly correct, though you are sort of playing down the downside. It can be absolutely catastrophic.
Amateurs/laymen do not know what questions to ask. This is Darrell Issa’s problem as well, trying to act like a lawyer when he is not one. And everyone and anyone should look at what has resulted from his very poor questioning skills: In contrast to Gowdy, every question Issa asks leads to a bifurcation: Well, it could mean this and it could mean that. This does not happen when Gowdy asks a question: When he asks a question, you see the witness shed a few beads of sweat, then try to come up with an answer. THAT IS HOW LIES come out!!
The difference is between amateur and skilled, professional lawyering, and it is massive.
Amateurs/laymen have done the suggested action zero times. Professionals have done the suggested operation a dozen, a hundred, or perhaps 500 times. A competent business-acquisition lawyer would NEVER EVER IN A MILLION YEARS think they were a competent estate lawyer.
And you’re exactly right, perhaps the litigant or the administrator of a LZ-originated estate plan (particularly trusts, which can be exceptionally tricky) thinks they have their bases covered, but you know and I know that one “i” left undotted or one “T” uncrossed can result in a TOTAL FAILURE of the intended structure and the default condition is ABSOLUTELY NOT the judge saying “now now, I know you really meant this, not what you wrote, why don’t you go back and rewrite this and come back next Thursday?” Oh no. One of the people needed to sign the docs is dead. You can not get there. Now, everything you do, and must do, is measured in $20K increments, and may not work at all. It is ghastly horrible to be in that situation, and the chances are, you will if you try to pretend you know what you are doing in complex areas of the law.
““now now, I know you really meant this, not what you wrote, why don’t you go back and rewrite this and come back next Thursday?””
Yeah, because in the estate field, the guy who knew what he meant, and could explain it, is dead.