Can Using an Online Will Form COST Your Loved Ones Money?

Times are hard, you don’t want to spend money for a lawyer, you think you don’t have too many assets. So you figure you’ll just go on the internet or maybe get a book out of the library and get a will form really cheap. You fill in the blanks, sign it, you believe that you have the correct number of witnesses, and feel very proud of yourself for doing your estate planning. Then, you die, and you don’t realize that your do-it-yourself will has serious problems with it. You will never know that your loved ones are in court spending money on lawyers to fix the mistakes that your will contains.

What kinds of mistakes can internet and wills and trust forms from a book create? Do you know if the form you are using incorporates the latest changes to the law? You don’t want to use an out-of-date document but how do you know if it is out-of-date?

Did you decide that because you’ve heard so much about those revocable living trusts that you should have one? Did you get an online form and create your own trust? Did you put any of your assets in the trust? Did you know you even needed to put your assets in the trust? If there are no assets in the trust, it is the same as if it never existed. If you are an expert in estate planning, you may know exactly what you are doing when you draft legal documents. But, more likely, you are following instructions from a website or a book and you have no idea if you are doing things correctly. Would you do surgery on yourself? Most of us would consult a doctor and for good reason. An expert knows what to do. You should consult an expert, not the internet.

Are you sure that the forms follow your state’s laws and requirements? How do you know for sure? Forms on the internet and in books may not be good for your state. Each state has its own requirements of how many witnesses are required and whether a notary public is required. If you don’t get everything exactly perfect, the court will throw out your will and your relatives will be in court fighting over who gets your estate.

Does your will form state that the executor does not need to post a bond? If you do not specify this requirement, your executor needs to buy a bond which costs hundreds or thousands of dollars. This bond insures that your executor will act in accordance with the terms of your will. You can state in a will that your executor does not need to post a bond, but if this language does not appear in your will, it is not implied. It must be explicitly stated.

Are you different from your neighbor, from your best friend? Do you think a will from the internet or a book should create a different estate plan from your neighbor's or your best friend's? Everyone has her own special set of circumstances. A cookie-cutter will can’t necessarily cover your situation and you won’t know that your will is deficient until the court throws it out.