Online Estate Planning - Is It Worth The Risk?

So, the latest client to be named executor in a will drafted using an online estate planning service comes into my office.  Within a few minutes, I have to tell him the bad news: the will wasn't properly signed, which means we need to find the witnesses and have them come testify in court.  More bad news: nobody knows who the witnesses were or where they are now.  Even more bad news: because the will was so poorly drafted by his dad, who wasn't a lawyer and had no reason to know how to properly draft dispositive provisions (the part that says who gets what), it's going to be difficult to uphold if anybody complains about it.

Our firm (in its various iterations) has been doing estate planning and probate for over 50 years.  The advent of online services (which shall not be named, but you've heard of them) has had the effect of making people think it's simple to draft your own will.  It's not.  Also, those online services have been criticized and sued by many states, Texas included, for engaging in the unauthorized practice of law when they include recommendations on how to draft your documents.  You'll notice there's now a "contact one of our referral lawyers to ask questions" service - there's a reason for that: like my client's dad, too many DIY drafters fail to properly draft and/or execute the will, which can lead to the will being rejected by the probate court.

Can these online documents be legally sufficient?  Sure.  Of the 20 or so we've seen in our office in the last few years, three have been completely legally sufficient.  The rest took lots of extra time and money to prove up, in those instances when we could salvage them.  It costs even more when we can't.

"Oh, sure!", I hear you thinking: "He just doesn't like the competition."  True, I feed my family by practicing law.  However, I think I speak for the vast majority of estate planning and probate firms when I say I'd much rather not have to tell a client that his or her loved one messed up in an attempt to save a few bucks.

*As always, the above is legal information, not legal advice, and you should consult with an attorney if you have questions because every case is different.