I want to make a will so that my huge assets will go to a worthy cause when it is my turn to leave this world. Without a wife or children I think that my will should not be very complicated. To save money I have been thinking about using online software for designing a will and printing it out, pretty much as you would do at a tax preparation site. I see some sites that will print out a will for about $20, and there are free blank generalized forms. However, my personal banker told me that writing a will online wasn’t such a good idea, that she has heard horror stories about online wills. Does anyone have any experience with online wills, pro or con. Please, no spirit messages from someone who has actually used an online will successfully.
I will be your wife and children…just how much money do you got? 
Seriously, though, writing a will is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, too–so I’m interested in what folks have to say, even though I don’t really own anything of real monetary value…
I haven’t done a will online, but I did mine with a local lawyer and it cost much less than you’d think. I did a will, living will, healthcare power of attorney, and a trust agreement for $400 total, and keep in mind the last one is generally the most expensive. Some law firms charge considerably more for this, but we found a lawyer in private practice who is very good and extremely reasonable.
Anyone in Ohio can PM me for her contact information, by the way.
When I was nine, I got a crayon and a sheet of construction paper and wrote a will. I think I left all my belongings to my dog.
Looking back, that was a rather morbid thing for a nine-year-old to do. Seemed like a good idea at the time, though.
“All to her”
Slan,
D.
I’m not a lawyer, but this is how I understand it. Language like “Being of sound mind”, “I do hereby bequeath..” etc. has a very precise legal meaning. It is not plain English and the legal meaning is not necessarily the same as the common sense meaning. What you buy with a lawyer is someone who will match your intentions with the right legal language. When you’re gone the will is the official expression of your intentions. In order to process it, the court will use the legal definitions not what you might have been “trying” to say.
I guess it depends on how much it matters to you. If you have strong feelings about what happens to your estate you might want to think carefully about a boilerplate will.
If a person made a, say, 10-minute video (or audio) tape, outlining her or his wishes, could and would that be considered a will in the same sense that a piece of paper could be? In some ways, to me, it seems that, since the person could actually be seen and heard, a pre-recorded tape would be more clear and more verifiable than paper, no?
I would think that a signed and notorized statement saying
that I, Doug Tipple, hereby leave
the following property to the following people in the event
of my death.
Then a list of people and what they get…
ought to do the trick. The courts aren’t going to be fussy
or fail to understand plain English. Not how they work,
they’re very practical and err on the side of supposing
you mean what you say on a plain reading.
Unless you are expecting a fight or have complicated
arrangements to make. Then I’d definitely consult
a lawyer.
I could care less what happens to my stuff when I die. Where most people get screwed is when they are seriously ill and may not have all their faculties when “persuaded” to sign over power of attorney or financial control of their resources. You would be better getting a lawyer to draught stuff for these sorts of things. An on-line form cannot ask you all the right questions from all the right angles to suit your personal needs or situation. A lawyer is definitely the way to go.
If there are possessions that you know you want to give to specific people, why not give those things now while you are thinking of it?
djm
Because he is using them now?
I mean, I don’t want to speak for my husb, I mean Doug, but that’s what I immediately thought.
To reiterate my earlier point.
Suppose one wishes to leave all worldly possessions to the local animal shelter. If you leave something other than a conventional will (video, notarized letter, boiler-plate will etc.) you run the risk that the judge in probate court may decide not to recognize it as a valid will. In that case, the judge may determine that, lacking a valid will, all possessions go to the state or are distributed acording to the law. Each state has rules about who gets what. I think they’re known as rules of intestacy. In the same example, you use an unconventional will to leave everything to the local animal shelter. Then annoying 3rd cousin Fred shows up, and challenges the will. He could claim the will isn’t valid because it isn’t “conventional”. Fred gets it all.
As with many things, it’s not common sense, it’s the law.
If the courts become involved you’ve already lost. I think you misunderstand the purpose of the will. It isn’t merely to specify who gets your stuff; as you point out, that’s pretty easy to do. But equally important, and the reason you should see a lawyer to get this done, is to keep your estate out of probate court.
If you’re lucky, the worst thing which will happen if your estate goes into probate is that your beneficiaries will get your stuff months late.