DIY Will Kits are cheap and easy, but they all should carry a big red warning sticker –
Beware - This DIY Will Kit is a goldmine for lawyers!
Why bother to have a will professionally prepared when it's so simple to fill in a DIY Will form with the name of someone to look after your affairs when you die (your 'executor') and to list all you have to give away (your 'gifts', 'bequests', 'legacies')?
A simple DIY Will or no will at all works in cases where the circumstances are simple and there is nothing to give away, apart from small bank account balance, some household goods and superannuation. It also works with a jointly owned house where 'joint tenancy' means that the house passes automatically to the survivor.
But if there is any complexity, a simple DIY Will is not up to the job, just like a pair of scissors will cut grass, but is not up to the job of mowing a lawn. These are some reasons:
- The will-maker's spouse or partner has died before them or they are no longer together
- The will-maker has a blended family
- The will-maker has no children
- The will-maker has lots of property, shares and other assets to leave
If a DIY Will is made and these reasons apply, then the legal fees will be in the tens of thousands of dollars to interpret the Will and to settle competing claims by persons entitled to a share. These days, the persons entitled to claim include not only spouses and partners (both current and former) and children, but anyone financially dependent or with a close personal relationship to the deceased.
When Peter Reid died, his wife had predeceased him and he had no children of his own. What he did leave was a large fortune - $76 million to be exact, and a DIY Will. It was a lawyer's goldmine. Two court cases and a mediation later in which 40 step-children, nieces, nephews and others claimed a share, the division of the estate was settled.