Should I Draft My Own Will?

I’m often asked whether someone needs an attorney to draft their will, or whether one of those do-it-yourself-online internet legal document prep websites are sufficient.  After all, they ALL advertise that they have “state specific” legal documents, right? And if it's “state specific”, shouldn’t that be good enough?

A document that is “state specific” (i.e., it is drafted with knowledge of, and in compliance with, Mississippi law) does not mean it is “fact specific”.  When you are drafting your will, you want a document that does what YOU want it to do!  The do-it-yourself documents can’t always do what you want it to do because the programs don’t always know what questions to ask you.  More important is that you won’t know what questions it should be asking you!  

So if a computer-generated legal form (whose programming was supposedly drafted by an attorney) does not know what questions to ask you, how will you know what issues you should address in your will? 

That’s why you should seek the advice of an attorney when drafting your will.  If you don’t believe me, consider the wise advice given in a poem written by Lord Neaves in the 16^th century:

Ye lawyers who live upon litigants’ fees,

And who need a good many to live at your ease,
Grave or gay, wise or witty, whate’er your degree,
Plain stuff or Queen’s Counsel, take counsel of me:
When a festive occasion your spirit unbends,
You should never forget the profession’s best friends;
So we’ll send round the wine, and a light bumper fill
To the jolly testator who makes his own will.

....

You had better pay toll when you take to the road,

Than attempt by a by-way to reach your abode;

You had better employ a conveyancer’s hand

Than encounter the risk that your will shouldn’t stand.

From the broad beaten track when the traveler strays,
He may land in a bog or be lost in a maze;
And the law, when defied, will avenge itself still
on the man and the woman who make their own will.

Contact us when you are ready to draft your estate planning documents.  For more information, please visit our website at www.showspowell.com.