Has anyone created a will own their own, without a lawyer?

In My Humble Opinion
22

It sounds like many people have used self or online resources, but are there any people here who have been the executor or beneficiary of such kind of will? It’s one thing to say it’s easy to create a will, but it’s another to say that the execution of that will was not negatively affected by it being homemade.

Also, for things like investment accounts, you can often designate a beneficiary on the account itself so it doesn’t have to go through probate. That way you don’t have specify in your will that Joe gets the Vanguard IRA. You can update the Vanguard IRA directly. That also makes it easier to switch beneficiaries of an account since you don’t have to update the will. You can update the beneficiary on the account at any time by yourself.

23

I was going to say what filmore. People who use an on-line service or a will kit don’t know how effective the process was. It’s the heirs and executors who can tell you if the will was good.

Years ago, there was a case in the United Kingdom where the deceased used a “fill in the blanks” will kit.

One of the judges sitting on the resulting litigation commented in his judgment: “And so the deceased filled out the will form, no doubt thinking he had done a good day’s work. And so he had - for the legal profession.”

24

My wife (a former attorney) commented that those will kits are typically not specific enough for most states- they’re good enough for extremely simple wills, but that most wills simple enough for those kits aren’t really even necessary because state law already does stuff like gives everything to the surviving spouse.

For anything more complicated, she suggested a real attorney draw up the will for the specific laws and conditions in your state.

25

I used a book from the library on the subject ages ago and when we had a lawyer look it over and change a couple names it went basically as we had done it.

26

+1

27

Yes. My grandfather wrote his own will. Perfectly legal, simple, and quite clear. The two biggest beneficiaries are now the lawyers hired by two of his children. What saved him a couple of hundred dollars has cost nearly a hundred thousand.

(Edit: the courts upheld the will, but due to the language he used, agreed that the beneficiaries’ failure to follow it was reasonable, as it wasn’t clear enough to be unambiguous. A lawyer could have done the same will much better for very little money.)

Whatever you’re hoping to save by skipping the lawyer, don’t.

28

I certainly wouldn’t disagree with you; I’m not familiar with 48 of the states (in fact, I’m just an avatar in a computer). But my reference to controlling the real estate through a deed was a reference to vesting interests before the death, and doing so using traditional real estate principles to dictate inheritance. (Important caveat: by doing this, you’d be giving this heir of yours a veto over any deed or mortgaging of the property).

So, for example, if you want another person to inherit your home from you when you die, you can join them on the deed as a “joint tenant with right of survivorship”; by operation of law, a joint tenant automatically inherits the remaining interest of the other person upon death (a married couple is usually considered a special kind of joint tenancy, so if the property is owned by A & B, husband and wife, the inheritance rules automatically make the surviving spouse inherit the title).

But let’s say, instead, that you co-own property, but want your kids to inherit your interest, rather than the co-owner. In that case, crafting the deed so that you are “tenants in common” will ensure that your interest remains with your heirs. Want to leave the property to one person as a residence for the rest of their life, and only after they die leave it to others (e.g. you want to save the house for mom to live out her years, but then it goes to the kids to sell and make a profit)? You can do that, too - life estate to one heir, remainder to the others. You can even arrange to deed it to somebody with conditions attached (like, your childhood residence must always be used as a museum; racist or bigoted nonsense won’t be enforceable)

Simple point being that there is some exercise of control over property via deed that can obviate the need for other estate documents.

Now THAT is a good reason for a trust. The animals are an obvious example of a beneficiary (it doesn’t have to be a person; it could be an animal, or an entity like a charitable organization) that needs the assistance of a trustee to manage their affairs. The trust would provide money to fund the beneficiaries’ needs, and the trustee is legally obligated to follow trust instructions in using that money for the beneficiaries’ benefit.

This is also true for minor children - a trust for caring for them is useful, especially since it can include conditions you may want to impose (e.g. as long as they are in school, they get a stipend for room and board; cash bonus for waiting until after 25 to get married…). How to fund it? Get life insurance and make the trust the beneficiary.

And while I generally think wills are overrated, I don’t think that about living wills (and/or medical directives). These apply to if you become incapacitated and list your wishes/empower somebody to make your decisions. This is a real possibility ("pull the plug! “No, I want to!” “Me!”), far more than the imagined family crisis over a used car and out of fashion wardrobe that is avoided by an airtight will.

29

I guess I’ll modify my prior response somewhat. Having a lawyer draft a will only costs a few hundred $. I believe my sister and BIL just paid $600 for a straightforward one. That is a small enough sum, that if your estate is of ANY size or complexity, or if you want ANYTHING out of the ordinary done with respect to it, or if you have reason to suspect ANYONE is likely to contest it, it would be pretty damned stupid and inconsiderate of your heirs for you to save $600.

One thing no one has mentioned yet, tho. In case you’ve never heard this before, let me tell you a secret - attys are not perfect. Show of hands - anyone other than me ever hear of an attorney-drafted will that was flawed? So you have to assess your risks and decide what is best for you. You might be able to draft an adequate will yourself. Or your atty might screw something up.

30

All that and the lawyer is more likely to store the will securely so that it’s available when needed.

31

Don’t know about that. Where do lawyers “store” wills? How do they keep track of all of their clients to know when the will is needed? How do heirs know the name of the lawyer to contact?

I’d think the testator keeping copies with their important papers, and distributing copies to a few people - heirs, executor, would be a more secure guarantee.

32

In Canada, lawyers used to provide that service, but no more. The professional requirements for secure storage are too expensive.

Simplest way to do it is get your own safe deposit box and put the original in there. Keep a copy of the will in your house, in an envelope and a note that says which bank has the will, with the safe deposit box number.

33

Here in New Zealand every firm of solicitors had a Deeds Room and someone checking the death notices in the local paper. I have been out of practice for a long time though.

34

Of course one should also consider simplifying your assets and possessions and making transfers now–instead of waiting until after you are dead for that to occur.

35

So you are saying that it was easy to fill it out online. But you don’t know if all those documents will hold up in court if challenged.

36

Exactly my point.

You have an estate of several hundred thousand dollars, say, that you’ve built up over a lifetime of hard work.

And you’re going to kick at paying a few hundred dollars when trying to ensure that that money is distributed according to your wishes.

You’d rather save a few hundred dollars and accept the risk that the real beneficiaries of your estate will be the barristers who get retained by your family members to litigate the case.

Whatever floats your boat.

37

Have you heard good things about legalzoom from people who’ve used it to draft their wills, or from the executor and heirs after the person died?

38

The lawyer who drew up our will specifically pointed out not to do this. Safety deposit boxes are locked up and no one can have access until well after probate begins. And a lot of things in the will might require knowing what’s what long before that. Such as who the executor is just to start with.

39

My original will was pretty complicated because I had minor children, and as such had to name guardians and establish a trust for the kids until they came of age. Since they are now both in their mid-20’s, I was able to streamline my will quite a bit. So I just used an online template and named my husband as primary beneficiary, with my daughters as equal secondary beneficiaries. I had a co-worker witness it.

Given that most institutions now require you to fill out a beneficiary form for real estate, life insurance policies, IRAs, etc, it’s just as critical to review these once a year and/or after a major life event such as marriage, divorce, death or birth. A Will will not supercede what is directed on these beneficiary forms, even though many people assume that this is the case. So, if you get divorced, be sure to go and change that beneficiary as soon as the divorce is final!

40

Although the exact requirements vary by state, there is always a way to access a deceased persons safe deposit box. When I was in banking (in GA) it was pretty simple - bring in the key, a certified copy of the death certificate and provide valid ID. Someone from the bank would escort the claimant to the box, watch them open it and allow them to remove ONLY a document purporting to be a will. The box would then be relocked until such time as the correct owners could be determined. If the whereabouts of the key were not known it got a little more involved, since the box would have to be drilled (and the bank reimbursed for the cost). Then the process proceeded as above.

It’s not without hassles, for sure, but procedures do exist. Wills are a very common safe deposit box item.

41

We never drew up wills until we had kids - had one of us croaked, everything would have gone to the spouse. A will would probably have simplified things a bit from a probate standpoint, but was probably not essential.

When we had the kids, we needed to deal with that: guardianship, trusts (for the kids as well as a “bypass trust” for each other). I doubt that LegalZoom would be up to the job there.

This reminds me, actually: we need to redo ours, in particular the trusts for the kids, as the way we had one of them set up won’t do the job - my son’s is a “special needs” trust that won’t be released to him until he’s self-supporting; my daughter’s would be turned over to her at age 25, and I think we need to rethink that.