Homemade Wills

Build a system that even a fool can use, and only a fool will want to use it. - George Bernard Shaw

Putting together your own will is certainly an achievable goal. And, it can be achieved with a minimum of cost. The question is whether you are willing to risk the consequences of poorly drafting this very important document.

For those that are avid do-it-yourselfers, creating a will can be far easier than, say, installing your home's electrical wiring by yourself. If you have diligently read our coverage on the basic elements of a will, you are on your way to being able to draft a will yourself.

When drafting your will, there are also many resources that you can use as a reference tool. These include:

• books and will making kits available at your local public library
• wills drafted by attorneys for relatives and friends
• wills that become public after they are probated, including the wills of the rich and famous

Did You Know? A minority of states recognize the validity of oral (nuncupative) wills. However, oral wills are not recommended (meaning don't use them.) They are mentioned here only to alert you to this freak of nature in the estate planning world. Oral wills come into play in a made-for-television type scenario where a person is about to die or expects to die soon (e.g., on their death bed or on the battlefield). With the threat of imminent death staring them in the face, a person tells somebody close by how they want their assets to get distributed after death. This assumes, of course, that the dying person has the time and strength to make such a statement and that there is somebody to hear it. Hopefully, you can see how relying on this method of making a will takes the "planning" out of the estate planning process. Additionally, an oral will undermines the basic principle that the person making the will is of sound mind and body. By its very nature, such a will also creates the opportunity for fraud and a will contest. Now that you know the basics, forget you ever heard of oral wills and go make a real one.

It really isn't that hard to piece together a will by yourself. Like most do-it-yourself projects, the pros and cons are about the same.

The main benefit to making a will on your own is saving money (a fair amount of money if the other option you are considering is having an attorney do it for you). The main drawback is that, as the complexity of your will increases (e.g., minimizing estate taxes), the potential for something to go wrong also increases.

Think about it in terms of a home improvement project. You may be quite comfortable to do some painting and minor repairs, but you shouldn't be trying to work on your plumbing unless you actually know what you are doing. If you proceed beyond your skill level, your resulting handiwork usually leaves you in a worse position and ends up costing more. Plus, remember that the more assets you have, the more assets you have at stake and the more damage that can result from a inept attempt at creating your own will.

Will making operates on the same principle. Everything is fine as long as you know what you're doing. But there isn't a lot of wiggle room built into the process, unless you have arranged to have the bulk of your estate pass automatically. A state's intestate succession laws serve as a safety net to take care of the matters that you might miss in drafting your will. But if you forget to include an important provision, or you don't comply with the formal will making requirements, you can have serious trouble trying to accomplish your goals.

Planning Tools One of the drawbacks of having a will probated is that it becomes publicly available and lacks privacy. Although there are ways to avoid this, many learn this lesson too late to do anything about it. Fortunately for us, though, we can turn the mistakes of others to our advantage. We offer a number of Wills of Famous Public Figures. These wills serve a function beyond merely satisfying the public's thirst for private details. These wills also provide a variety of examples of how actual wills are structured and drafted. If you think about it, these people had the money to afford the very best in estate planning and legal advice. In addition, some of them even had law degrees or other practical business savvy of their own to rely on. The wills provided here vary because of specific state requirements, specific requirements of certain bequests, and the drafting prerogatives of the drafters. Some are better than others. It may be useful for a person to review these examples while considering how to develop his or her own will.