Using software to create Wills

This article from the New York Times is written by a person who tried several different Will-making packages and then ran them past an estate-planning lawyer for comments. Click here to read it. I'm not particularly in favour of people making their own Wills unless their affairs are completely simple and straightforward, but my opinion doesn't stop them! Unfortunately people seem to be the worst judge of whether their own affairs are simple or not. In my opinion, you should not be making your own Will if you have minor children, if you have a handicapped child of any age, if you own more real estate than just your principal residence, if you have assets or pensions in another country, if you've loaned money to your children, if you own any assets jointly with anyone other than your spouse, if you want to leave specific assets to specific people, or if you're doing anything other than leaving your estate equally among your children. And even then, I'd prefer that DIY testators reviewed their documents with their lawyers and possibly their accountants. See what you think of this writer's experience in this article.

The attached illustration by Robert Neubecker is also from the New York Times article.