Complete Guide to Estate Planning

Most people assume you need a lawyer to create an estate plan. That's not true. If your financial picture is relatively simple—say you're under 40 with modest savings, or you're retired with straightforward wishes about who gets what—you can probably handle this yourself and pocket the $2,000-$5,000 you'd otherwise spend on legal fees.

The challenge? Figuring out whether your situation truly is simple enough for the DIY approach, then executing everything correctly so your documents actually work when your family needs them.

Let me walk you through exactly how to create a legally valid estate plan on your own, plus the red flags that mean you should stop and call an attorney instead.

When DIY Estate Planning Makes Sense

Whether you can do my own estate planning isn't a yes-or-no question—it depends entirely on what you own and who's in your life.

You're probably fine handling estate planning DIY if you're:

In your twenties or thirties without kids. At this stage, you mainly need someone authorized to make medical decisions if you're in an accident, plus a basic will naming who inherits your stuff. Nothing complicated yet.

Planning to split everything equally among your children, or leave it all to your spouse. Straightforward distribution = straightforward planning. No attorney required.

Worth less than $13.99 million. That's the 2026 federal estate tax threshold. Stay under that number and you won't trigger tax complications that demand professional expertise.

In your first marriage ...