Heath Ledger may be appearing as the Joker in the upcoming Batman movie, but there was nothing funny about his recent death or the fact that he passed away with an out-of-date Will. Particularly for his daughter, Matilda, and Matilda’s mother Michelle, since his three-year-old Will left everything to his parents and sister.

We saw the same thing recently when Anna Nicole Smith died and her Will left everything to her deceased son, made no mention of her baby daughter Danielynn or her long-time partner Howard K. Stern, who stuck by her through all of her ups and downs for years prior to her death. Heath’s parents have made public assurances that Matilda will be well taken care of, and she’s likely to be deemed an omitted heir anyway, which would mean she’ll end up receiving an inheritance from Heath’s estate. But that’s only part of the story.

For starters, Michelle Williams, Matilda’s mother, was not provided for and the law doesn’t make any provision for unmarried partners. Would Heath really have wanted Michelle to get nothing? And while Matilda may ultimately inherit Heath’s estate due to the pretermitted heir laws noted above, by not updating his Will or having an attorney create a comprehensive estate plan, he lost the chance to decide the terms under which Matilda would receive the money he left behind and who would take care of that money until she receives it.

This situation exemplifies a major problem in the way people plan for their financial futures in the U.S. today-even wealthy celebrities have fallen victim to the current misconception that estate planning is simply a matter of filling out basic forms and never looked at them again. Nothing could be further from the truth! Consider this: standard estate planning forms can be purchased on the Internet for a couple hundred bucks and completed with the help of a do it yourself kit for only $13.50. Or you could spend $2,750 to have the forms prepared by some lawyer in Arizona who calls himself the Estate Planning Doctor. Either way, at the end of the day all you end up with is documents that in many cases won’t work when your loved ones really need them.

What you want -what you need-is an in-depth, personal relationship with an experienced estate planning attorney who can guide you, help you make the best decisions throughout your lifetime, and be there for your family after you are gone. Someone who will take the time to make sure your estate plan stays up to date so that when you have a new child or grandchild, or experience any other significant change in life, your trusted estate planning attorney will know about the changes and take the appropriate steps to ensure everyone you care about is taken care of and that your wishes are carried out.  Not unlike very wealthy celebrities who fail to take care of this until it’s too late, you need a relationship with a Personal Family Lawyer you can trust.