Will Kits
Don't be taken in by misleading ads that tell you that their "lawyer approved" do-it-yourself Will Kits will stand up in court and save hundreds of dollars because you don't need a lawyer. I do not prepare wills but have dealt with the litigation aftermath of what happens when people try to cut costs. The following true story illustrates the point.
Deborrah was the last of nine siblings when she died in her 80s in her small farmhouse in Northern Ontario. Her predecessors had left her land and money with a value of about $400,000.00 and she wished, in turn, to make gifts to her favorite nieces and nephew. Rather than spend the $100.00 or so that it would have cost to have a lawyer prepare a will, she decided to buy a Will Kit. The will from the Kit was found in her house after her demise and bore the names of two witnesses to her signature. So far, so good.
No sooner was Deborrah laid to rest when an absentee relative came out of the woodwork to claim that Aunt Deborrah promised to leave him some money. He saw her once, at a distance only, in the fifteen years preceding her death. On cross examination, his evidence was that he interpreted her waving to him as meaning that she intended to put him in her will. He claimed that the home drafted will was not really witnessed by two people. One of the two witnesses swore that it was blank without Deborrah's signature when this same witness signed it and was, thus, void. She purported to sign as well for her husband and that he had dementia. These allegations were despite the witness having signed a sworn statement saying that she saw Deborrah sign. Thousands of dollars' worth of handwriting experts and legal fees later, a judge said that there was adequate evidence of Deborrah's own writing to permit it to be interpreted as a holograph will. Not satisfied with that answer, the would be beneficiary's lawyer brought the case to another local judge who felt the will was invalid. To preserve the vast majority of the estate, a nuisance payment was made to the nephew and that seemed to be the end of that.
As soon as that case was resolved, lo and behold, someone else appeared, asking for about a million dollars which she felt she should get for doing such things as talking to Deborrah over coffee and shoveling the path to the outhouse. Fortunately, we were able to short circuit that lawsuit because a limitation period had been missed by the lawyer. That then became a problem for the Law Society's insurer. Deborrah's wishes were met for the most part but not without the expenditure of tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees. All to save $100.00!