Making the Right Choice: Lawyer or Will Kit?

I recently attended a dinner party where an acquaintance (for the sake of this blog entry, let’s call him John) had mentioned that he drafted a Will three years ago, using a Will kit purchased at his local Staples store. John then went on to ask me to share my thoughts about the adequacy of his Will. While I explained to John that without having a chance to review the said Will, I could not truly comment on its adequacy, her question got me thinking about the adequacy of store/internet bought “Will kits” in general; which has led to this blog post.

In order to make an informed decision in my own mind about the above mentioned “Will kits” I had, from the comfort of both my own home and office, purchased a few such kits and reviewed their merits. While I can report that some are definitely easier to use than others, with friendlier and clearer instructions and templates, overall, I was left wanting. 

Let me first explain that I never advocate for spending the time or the money, creating a Will if one does not truly need such a document. While some of my colleagues may disagree with my approach, I believe that not everyone truly needs a Will (gasp). Here is a quick guideline and explanation: if you have no assets or very few assets and no intention of purchasing any more assets; if the assets that you do have are owned jointly with your partner and there is a right of survivorship; if you have no children or only one child who is not a minor, and have no intention of having more children or any at all; if you have an adult child and a spouse and are comfortable with your child and your spouse sharing in your Estate equally; if you have no concerns about the treatment of your body once you have passed; and if you do not care who will administer your estate and how long this administration might take, I am a firm believer in the fact that you do not require a Will as the few assets that you do have will either pass to the joint owner or, on intestacy (that is the word used to describe the state of an Estate of a person who has died without a Will) to your partner or child, or to your partner and child, or if your partner or child do not survive you, then the assets will pass to the next of kin that is next in line in accordance to the rules of intestacy (which you can learn more about here).

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While the avid DIYers are likely to disagree with me, I am a big believer in leaving the complicated to the professionals in the area of the complication. Just like I would never try to re-face or re-wire my own house, I have now concluded and can safely say that I would not recommend that anyone truly concerned about their Estate plan try to create this plan without the help of a professional.

However, if one tries to plan their Estate themselves, they run the risk of missing some important and very specific questions that they should be asking themselves.

I cannot stress this enough: it is important to remember that the few dollars saved today could result in thousands of dollars lost tomorrow – trying to fix what one could have avoided breaking in the first place. That is, if one plans their Estate properly, with a professional, upon death, the administration of the said Estate should be relatively smooth, with all of the people that the individual had hoped to provide for, provided for. However, if one tries to plan their Estate themselves, they run the risk of missing some important and very specific questions that they should be asking themselves. They also run the risk of not addressing these specific issues in their Will. This may result in the Estate administration not running as smoothly as it could have, the people that the individual had hoped to provide for, not being provided for at all or not being provided for as adequately as individual had intended, the Will not being executed properly and therefore being deemed invalid by the courts, and the Estate being responsible for the payment of and paying higher taxes.

So, after weighing all of the pros and cons of the Will kit (yes, you wouldn’t have to step out of the house to get that Will drafted), even the most homebody and frugal parts of me are now of the firm belief that a lot of headaches / heartache could be avoided if one chooses to invest in the lawyer drafted Will option. If you do things right from the outset, your beneficiaries won’t have to pay for your mistakes later. And you’ll probably get a good coffee out of it too – I know at my office, we have a wonderful espresso machine. Come one, come all – we’ll be happy to talk to you.

Categories: Wills & Estates