Things I have learned about writing wills

September 7th, 2012 | Tagged: , ,

One of the fun facts about my dad was that he was really thrifty. Crazy thrifty sometimes.

He wanted to have a will but did not want to pay a lawyer for it.

Fair enough I figured. There is not a lot of money there and what’s to happen to it is straight forward.

So for $30 I bought one of these DIY will kits. And in may dad dictated what he wanted done.

And about six weeks later dad had the will witnessed. Three weeks after that he died.

So now we are taking the will for a spin and… Oh boy.

Problem 1. Will talks about Michael I Lawson. Affidavit just talks about Nichael Lawson.

Problem 2 The will says it was made May 18 (damn you MS Word auto complete) but it was witnessed on July 1. The witnesses is to the signing.

Oh and it didn’t actually say what happens if the executor or the beneficiary dies before my dad. That didn’t happen but never mind.

So now instead of just certifying the will we have to have an affidavit explaining the discrepancy.

Sigh.

A will costs you about $800 at a lawyer. So far my self-published has cost $367 in extra legal work. So there’s still a savings except for the fact that my half hour trip to the lawyer’s office turned into an all-afternoon thing.

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