NY Times Puts Will Writing Software to the Test
New York Times writer Tara Siegel Bernard wondered how difficult it would be to write her will using an off-the-shelf will writing software program, and in doing so crafted a pretty good column about the do-it-yourself will process.
She tested four of the most popular will writing programs, and then consulted with an estate planning attorney to review her final drafts to see if there were any errors or obvious omissions. What she found was that in each case, there were both.
As we have counseled many times before, just because you can do something does not mean you should. The will writing software programs Bernard tested ranged in price from $19.95 to $91.95, and each featured a different set of bells and whistles to guide the novice through the process.
However, as Bernard notes, you don’t know what you don’t know...and when she consulted with her attorney, she found many potential problems. In one case, she had left it up to the state of New York (where she lives) to decide how she wanted to pay estate taxes because she didn’t know how to answer that question. And the software could only ask the question, not help her answer it.
In another instance, the attorney questioned how the software program defined descendants and pointed out that if Bernard wanted to leave something for grandchildren, there was no way to do that with that particular program.
The attorney also found several potential tax issues among all the programs – issues that a novice would be totally uninformed about unless sitting across from an estate planning attorney.
Her bottom line? To get your will right, get an attorney.
