Customer Reviews

Kiplinger's WillPower 2004 Win/Mac

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Willpower is acceptable, as far as its function goes. It provides a scheme for detailing your assets, and a boilerplate Will and Last text. It's not clear, however, that the scheme couldn't be done comparably with a spreadsheet. In addition, the Will and Last text often needs editing, for the legal language is convoluted so it can be massaged by a computer program to handle the cases checked.

However, Kiplinger provides NO UPGRADE from one year's Willpower to another, something which you'd think would be important as laws change. I was talked into buying a completely new version, which I did. Guess what: The new version has NO MEANS OF IMPORTING INFORMATION from the older version. That means you have to enter all your property all over again.

The lack of a means of importing information is why I rated this at One Star. Otherwise it'd get a Three Stars.

I'm on the hunt for a third-party conversions program. I may write one myself.

Though the interview process goes smoothly, Willpower prompts me with an "unexpected error - please save and quit" when I complete the interview. Willpower will not accept a simple file name for saving my finished document, and worse, won't print. The only way I could print my finished will is to export it in RTF format. Kiplinger Technical Support acknowledges the problem as a Java conflict - but claims that since I can eventually print my document, I can't expect anything else. I'm running Willpower on a G4 iMac, using OS10.3.8 - the latest OS.

In summary, Willpower gets the job done, but only with some crude workarounds to get it to print. And I cannot save any of my files once they are complete - it only lets me save if I quit midway through an interview. Willpower could be a very useful product if Kiplinger just finished the details on the development of it.

I think the thing that made me most impressed with this software was how MUCH came with it. Yes, it has the Healthcare Directive I wanted, but it also came with a Law Dictionary, Estate Planning Guide, and contacts for other information. This was a great buy for the money. And from a company that is an expert in the business.

By using a question driven approach, WillPower lets you create a will quickly, with no learning curve. And at less than $30, it's a lot less expensive than a lawyer. I wanted a product that would let me create a will quickly and without a hassle and this product did that.

At first I was not sure about will software and how good it could be. It was not until a friend who bought H&R Block's Willpower told me how good this was and recommends it to me.

I was amazed that it had all I needed to create a will and most importantly, a living will. I save money with my attorney since I did most of the work for him.

What I also liked, was the sections where I could learn some of the legal mambo-jumbo to help me understand this process.

This software is lacking when it comes to making a basic will. It doesn't allow options for giving property away to certain people in percentages if my children and spouse were not living at the time of my death. Also, it does keep giving me an error that erases what I just worked on for 15 minutes. And it doesn't let me edit the will via the wizard after completing the wizard. If you want to make changes, you have to read through the entire document to try and find where it was that you needed to change something. I have used the Quicken product in the past. And while the Quicken product is not perfect, it is better than this software. I plan on going out tomorrow to buy the Quicken Willmaker again.