Do I have to have a Will drawn up by a Lawyer?

In about half of the US states, they still accept “holographic” wills which is a handwritten will that is created and signed by only the testator. You are not required to have the will witnessed, the state only requires basic criteria’s to be met.  But it is important to know that once it comes to probate the courts tend to scrutinize the legitimacy of the will and can interpret the will in their own way if they have ambiguous meaning in the will.

The above is an extreme example, however you do need some advise if you have a lot of assets that you wish to transfer to various loved ones creating trusts etc. You can use a lawyer to do this, who can charge a high fee for dealing with all the matters and advising you on what you are proposing to carry out.

However, if you know what you want to do there is no reason why you cant make comprehensive notes of your assets and how you want each item transferred, you can then have this put into a legal will.

In most states a will must be signed in front of two witnesses and dated. If you can have your will signed in front of a notary public this will speed up probate as the courts are more likely to trust the wills validity.

Unless you have some complex legal issue that must be dealt with in the will then there is no reason why you can’t do the will yourself or you can try online document companies that will draft the will for you and save you the headache.

It is important that you have some guidance, as a will is a document, which you want to get right, as you cannot argue your intentions of the will later.