Your financial advisor prepared your will? You, my friend, have been suckered

Yesterday while I was in the studio at VOCM, a number of listeners contacted the host, Pete Soucy, with questions and comments on Twitter, email, and by phone. We didn't get to all of them, but there is one particular comment that stands out for me and which I really want to address today.

An individual tweeted that his financial advisor had prepared his will and Enduring Power of Attorney for him for free. He seemed pleased about this.

This poor fellow has been completely suckered. He thinks he has something of value, and he is grateful to the person who gave it to him. I really don't understand this. Did this person have his taxes done by his hairdresser? His prescriptions filled by his mechanic? His appendix taken out by the clerk at the supermarket? If he doesn't actually know what his financial advisor is supposed to be doing for him, why does he even have one?

Financial advisors are not trained to prepare wills. Yes, they know a lot about money, but they don't know a lot about inheritance law.  That advisor probably just downloaded a form from the internet and uses the same one for every client. He knows no more about wills than the person he gave it to, and I'm shocked that any so-called professional would mislead a client this way about his lack of expertise.

In my opinion the financial advisor who is preparing wills for people and passing them off as adequate substitutes for wills drawn by lawyers should lose his license. He clearly has poor judgment.