Simple Will Kit
A Last Will and Testament need not be complicated, and need not be expensive to prepare. However, it is extremely inadvisable to use a blank form do-it-yourself will kit.
Everybody has the right to prepare their own legal Will without the use of a lawyer. In fact, you could handwrite a document on a piece of paper stating that it is your Last Will and Testament and explain how you would like your estate to be distributed, and in many jurisdictions this would serve as a perfectly legal Last Will and Testament (a handwritten Will is known as a holographic Will).
However, this would also be a bad idea.
The reason is that although blank forms and handwritten Wills are legal, they are likely to omit things such as an alternate plan should your desired plan be unworkable for some reason e.g. a beneficiary pre-deceases you. There are also laws surrounding the making of provisions for family members and dependents.
But this does not mean that everybody need necessarily rush out to a lawyer's office to prepare their legal Will. Many people find this process expensive and inconvenient, especially when you consider that a Will needs to be updated quite regularly to reflect any changes in your personal or financial situation.
Fortunately, we have seen a rise in popularity of an effective service that is a vast improvement on blank Will kits, and the expense of hiring a lawyer. Interactive online tools such as those offered by
www.LegalWills.ca in Canada,
www.USLegalWills.com in the United States and
www.LegalWills.co.uk in the United Kingdom give power to consumers to create their own legal Will. Although they are no substitute for legal advice, they do provide a useful option for many people who want to prepare their own Will, but don't want to take the risk associated with a blank form kit.