Do It Yourself Wills

I just read a blog post from a woman touting an online legal service provider, telling the world how great and easy it is to do your own will online through this company. I've previously posted about the pitfalls of do it yourself bankruptcies, but a do it yourself will is even worse. At least if you make a mistake in your bankruptcy, you have a chance to fix it. If you screw up your will, not only can't you fix it, you won't even know something is wrong.

There are a host of potential problems with a do it yourself will and estate plan. Yes, you can provide for someone to have legal custody of your children. But what about providing for them? What instructions are you going to leave and how binding will those be about whatever they inherit. For example, you do have life insurance don't you? Do you plan to leave that to the kids outright? To a 12-year old? Or are you just going to name your BFF as the beneficiary under the policy and hope she knows what you would do?

Think about it. Would you feel comfortable about buying a kit and instructions to build a car or a house from an online company and do it yourself? Doesn't your family deserve better?