Knowledge & Resources
Wills and estate planning
What a will does, how to write one, and what your state requires for it to count.
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Wills and estate planning
What a will does, how to write one, and what your state requires for it to count.
Most people with an ordinary situation can write a valid will without a lawyer, and for a long time the alternative to doing it yourself was not doing it at all. But self-help software has a boundary, and it is worth knowing where yours is before you rely on it.
Legawyl is software, not a law firm. Nobody reviews your document, and nothing we provide is legal advice. That is fine for a straightforward estate. It is not fine for the situations below.
Large enough that estate or inheritance tax is a real question. Some states levy their own at thresholds well below the federal one, so this is worth checking rather than assuming.
A former spouse, children from more than one relationship, stepchildren you want to provide for. These are the arrangements that most often end up in court, and the ones where wording matters most.
Disinheriting a spouse is restricted or impossible in most states, which give a surviving spouse a minimum share whatever the will says. Disinheriting a child is usually allowed but has to be done deliberately and explicitly.
If you think someone will contest the will, an attorney can build a record now that makes it harder to succeed later. Software cannot.
Succession for an operating business is its own field. A will alone rarely handles it well.
Property is governed by the law where it sits. You will generally need a separate will valid in that country, and local advice on how the two fit together.
Or someone has told you that you might. Legawyl produces a will and nothing else. A trust is a different instrument with different formalities.
An outright gift can disqualify someone from the support they rely on. This usually calls for a specially drafted trust, and getting it wrong causes real harm to the person you were trying to help.
If anyone involved may not fully understand what they are doing, or may be under pressure from another person, that needs a professional who can assess it and record that they did.
And one more, which is not a joke: if your situation feels complicated to you, it probably is. That instinct is usually right, and it is cheaper to act on now than to leave your family to discover you were correct.
A simple will from an attorney is often a few hundred dollars, and many charge a flat fee rather than by the hour for straightforward work. It is worth asking for the fee structure up front. If your situation is one of those above, the cost of getting it wrong is usually far larger than the fee.
If cost is the obstacle, look for a legal aid organisation in your state, a law school clinic, or a local bar association referral service. Many bar associations run a reduced-fee first consultation.
If none of the above applies, a self-made will that is signed and witnessed properly is a genuine, valid will. The thing that most often fails is not the wording, it is the signing. Check what your state requires and follow it exactly.
You can also do both. Writing your will yourself and then paying an attorney an hour to read it is cheaper than having one draft it from scratch, and you arrive knowing what you want.
