Adoption
Options
Website for creating a will?
Does anyone have a recommendation of an online site that does wills. We want something official (for our home study), but inexpensive. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Website for creating a will?
In case anyone else is curious...I asked on Facebook as well and someone recommended Willpower by H&R Block. They got it off of Amazon for around $30.
I would take more recommendations though if anyone has any.
This may be a UO, but I would strongly recommend getting a lawyer to do one. You have no idea what your state's laws are about the validity of DIY wills. Worst case, you end up with your estate in limbo because it's not recognized.
This is discussed a lot on the MM board, and even all the lawyers say to see a lawyer. For a simple will you shouldn't have to pay much $. We paid $350 for a will and living will before DD, and $200 to update guardianship after we adopted her.
Just my 2c.
I agree. I'm a real estate lawyer and I still had an estates lawyer draft our will. And I still had questions after I reviewed it. Wills are one of those things that when you mess up, there is no way to fix it. You know, because your dead.
I agree. I'm a real estate lawyer and I still had an estates lawyer draft our will. And I still had questions after I reviewed it. Wills are one of those things that when you mess up, there is no way to fix it. You know, because you're dead.
Interesting...I did talk to a layer and they recommended for a simple case like ours (not a lot of estate, etc.) to go online because it would be way easier. She said that even the online companies have to follow state law.
Maybe I need another opinion.
First, I don't understand why you would need a will for your homestudy, as you will just need to do it over once you have a child.
Second, have a lawyer do your will. The attorney who told you to go online is nuts, so definitely find a different lawyer for your will. I remember my wills professor in law school say that she has seen so many negative and unintended consequences from do it yourself wills that she adamantly believes that it's better to have no will at all. LegalZoom, the big "do it yourself" legal website has recently been sued twice over disastrous do it yourself wills using their forms.
https://www.elderlawanswers.com/resources/article.asp?id=8355
I would make sure you are really required to have one for your home study, as that seems kind of a bizarro requirement. I don't know why they would care what happens to your assets if one or both of you died before a child is placed with you. If you absolutely have to get one, I would have a lawyer draft it, but explain the situation and see if they will charge a significantly reduced fee to draft an amended will once your adoption is finalized.
I agree with Go_Dawgs on the issues with do-it-yourself wills. I have also heard lots of bag things about them and that they aren't necessarily binding. By having a lawyer do it, you can have certain language added that will make it binding in more than your own state, so even if you move out-of-state, you may not have to redo the whole thing (but you should always have a lawyer in your new state review it just to make sure it passes legal muster in that state).
As for having to redo the will once you have children, I disagree. Our wills were drafted without our children's names or exact sums, and says that what ever goes to any of our children shall be equally divided and how the trusts would work. That way, if we only have M or have 10 more, the wills wouldn't have to be redone. It's another benefit of having the wills drafted by a lawyer who knows what language would legally cover all your bases.
I clearly don't practice estate planning
It's also possible that whether or not you can do this varies by state (or it may not, I have no clue).