The Divorce Factor in Do-It-Yourself Wills

H&R Block recently launched a new product, WillPower, a software program that helps people draw up their own estate plans, trusts, and wills. You can learn more about it in this article in the Cape Cod Times – or you may have read it your local newspaper by now.

While I’m all for getting your ducks in a row, estate planning for people who have been married before is complicated at best. Here’s a piece of the article that illustrates my point:

"Those little kits could work if you have the training, education and expertise to use them properly," said Lee Davis, a Johnson City, Tenn., lawyer and president of the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils.

"However, there also is lot of potential for someone insufficiently versed in legal matters to create major problems for heirs, for example by leaving out something important or using incorrect or ambiguous language," Davis said.

"Hiring a lawyer also becomes an increasingly better idea if your estate becomes bigger or more complicated, or if your or your heirs' circumstances are changed by death, divorce, remarriage or some similar event," Davis said.

"Kits just don't cover all those conditions," he said.

So before you sign up for the do-it-yourself kit, keep in mind a few important factors:

 The current wife may not have access to her husband’s estate if alimony, child support, or family support obligations to the “first family” have not been satisfied.

 The current wife may not have access to her husband’s retirement accounts, if the ex-wife is listed as the beneficiary.

 Children from the second marriage may not have access to their father’s estate, if obligations to the “first children” have not been met.

So if you or your spouse has been married before, you’re better off consulting with an attorney who will make sure all of the factors are considered. Which doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pick up WillPower or a comparable product. The software can help you organize your papers and make important choices about where your estate, which will help you save big on your legal fees.

Do you have all of your important legal and financial documents in one, safe place? If not, don’t fret. Most people don’t have every key document at their fingertips. February is a great time to gather these documents in preparation for tax season, and of course, life’s little surprises.

A complete document checklist is available in my book, Every Single Girls’ Guide to Her Future Husband’s Last Divorce, and in the coming weeks I’ll be providing you with tons of helpful advice about how to organize (and find) the documents on the list.

So stay tuned!