I’m not dying of anything, I’m in fairly good health, I’m in my twenties, and I’m not married. I’m interested in writing my Last Will & Testament. I just want a simple will so that if anything happens, I can rest assured that my family squabbling will be kept to a minimum.
I don’t really feel like hiring (and paying) a lawyer to help out with this – I have a friend who’s a Notary Public, so I figure she can notarize this, right? In any case, I’m interested to find out if any Doper here can recommend any will-writing/personal lawyer software. Keep in mind my little preamble – just something simple for a guy like me who ain’t even married yet. Any suggestions?
Please be careful! These software programs deliver a “will” in proper form. However, a document is not a will until it is properly executed. In most U.S. states, this requires that you sign it in the presence of three witnesses, all of whom sign in each other’s presence. The traditional rule was that none of the witnesses could have any interest in the will or it would be void, although many states have relaxed this somewhat. Frequently people use these programs (or fill-in forms they buy at Staples), end up with a document that’s perfectly understandable and does everything right, and then they sign it without witnesses. Or they get the witnesses but they use their friends that are in the will, so it’s void. Or there’s some other minor quibbling problem that voids the will. It’s hard to make a will on purpose, so that it isn’t done without due consideration. But because of this, it’s very hard for a layman to make a will without a lawyer making sure all the i’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed.
Thanks for the concern, Cliffy. Let’s assume for the moment that I can produce three witnesses who will have no interest in my will. (Assuming that one of these friends, the N.P., is not mentioned at all in the will.) Am I still okay buying one of these software packages and writing my will with it? I don’t really have all that much to give away – it’s more so that I can assign some preferences – like that I’d want one brother to have our grandfather’s watch, instead of letting my other brother have it, knowing that he’ll probably just pawn it off, for example.
Most of the software programs will deliver to you a form that is legal if properly executed. The problem again is that, left to your own devices, you will almost certainly execute it incorrectly because the rules are very complex and arcane. (The three disinterested witnesses is the general rule, by the way, but your state may vary. In fact, it probably does, somehow.)
You can probably get a lawyer to help you execute a will you’ve drafted for a very small amount of money, maybe less than $50, if you don’t have any complex trusts or the like that you want to set up. The other thing about getting a lawyer is that if there’s nonetheless a problem, in most states your devisees will be able to sue the lawyer for malpractice and recover anything they should have gotten if the will were done properly. (Most states. Not Virginia, though.)