How to Draft a Will without a Lawyer

Who should write their own will?

You might consider drafting a will on your own if you have an average amount of assets, your plans for leaving your property are not unusual, and you're not expecting a challenge, says attorney Dennis Sandoval of Sandoval Legacy Group in Riverside, Calif. In this kind of simple will situation, you may be able to draft a will on your own successfully.

That was true for Brian Douglas, an illustrator and designer in Toronto, who drafted a will with the help of an online will-preparation company.

"For someone like myself whose situation is not complex, I didn't want to spend a lot of money, and I also really liked the convenience of it," says Douglas, whose children are grown.

In higher-stakes cases, you may want to hire someone through an attorney network or another channel. Some lawyers would strongly advise you never to draft your own will if you don't thoroughly understand what could be at risk.

"I think it is a bad idea," says Danielle Humphrey of Hurley Elder Care Law in Atlanta. "Because they don't know what they don't know."

How to write your own will

If you choose to write your own will, you'll need to know:

• How you want your property divided
• Whom you want to put in charge of that
• Whom you would assign to care for any children under 18
• Your state's requirements for a valid will

The first three items are your call. The person you put in charge of implementing your will—called an executor—should be a person you trust.

However, state requirements may be strictly applied, especially if there's a challenge to the will. Those requirements vary, but generally, your will must be in writing; you must be at least 18 and mentally competent; and you must sign it in front of two to three (depending on the state) adult witnesses who do not stand to inherit anything. Those witnesses must also sign.

Sandoval suggests that, if you want to draft your own will, you start with a statutory will. This very simple form allows you to fill in your name and the names of your heirs, the people who will execute your wishes after your death, and any guardians needed for your minor children. However, only California, Maine, Michigan, New Mexico, and Wisconsin offer statutory wills, so many Americans won't have this option.

If you don't, you may still live in one of the 26 states that permit holographic wills. "Holographic" here means "handwritten," Sandoval says handwriting it is advantageous because the legal standard for validating a handwritten will is a little more relaxed, at least in California. This may help if you miss a detail. But he cautions that you must still sign it and date it, and he recommends using witnesses even if your state doesn't require them for holographic wills.

"[One] common mistake people make if they handwrite a will is they may sign it, but they forget to date it," says Sandoval, a certified elder-law attorney. "If you don't date it, how will I know if this is your most recent will?"