Customer Reviews

Quicken Lawyer 2003 Personal [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This software made my attorney blush! I had previously used Family Lawyer to create estate planning papers that, upon my attorney's review, were filled with so many legal errors that they were useless.

So I turned to Quicken Lawyer -- what a difference a software package can make! Each time I wanted a form it took me through a series of questions and answers, and whenever I had a problem or questions I could find answers in the sidebars. Best of all my attorney couldn't find any errors, he just confirmed that I wanted what I was stating in the documents! I can't recommend this package enough. Never has a single purchase seemed so valuable.

I bought this product and have been *very* happy with it. I was able to do wills for both my wife and I in the matter of an afternoon for less than [$] bucks. I found the interface of the program extremely user friendly and easy to understand. Also, it is loaded with legal info about all kinds of stuff including legal definitions of terms, which I found useful since most legal jargon is unreadable by me. It is just a fantastic product all around.

BOTTOM LINE: Quicken Lawyer Personal ('QLP') is a great, low-cost alternative to hiring a lawyer to prepare your basic estate planning document, which will run you a minimum of several hundred dollars. It takes just minutes to prepare a will, but its legal manual/support resources are extensive enough for those that want to spend much more time understanding the what/why behind their documents.

QLP is published by Nolo Press, a well established publisher of self-help legal books. QLP begins by walking you through a number of typical life-stage situations (i.e. young w/ no kids, married w/ kids, etc.) and comes up with a list of suggested documents and along the way explains why you might need each of these documents. When creating a particular document, the software writes all of the legal language for you - you do not write a single word of legalese - and docs are tailored to each state's requirements. To get information from you and have you make decisions about the content/structure of your documents, QLP follows the typical "interview" format - easy to use and informative along the way. My wife and I each created wills, healthcare directives and powers of attorney in about an hour or two.

PROS:
- Ease of use: idiot-proof interview format
- Legal help: good offline manual, good resources at Nolo website
- Clear execution information: tells you exactly what each document needs to be put into effect (some need notarization, some need just witnesses)
- Address book: enter a person's info (i.e. your spouse) and don't need to enter again in other parts of same doc or other docs

QLP is primarily estate planning software. It has a few of the most important ancillary documents (Child Care Agreement, Limited POA for Finances), but Kiplinger's Home Attorney and Broderbund's Family Attorney have a full complement of general use form documents. However, if you look through these lists, most are either not really necessary (Trip Permission Slip you can write yourself on scrap of paper or school gives it to you) or are better left to professionals unless you know exactly what you are doing (i.e. residential real estate sales contract and home services contract - too much legalese in there to just print, drop your name in and sign!?).

COMPETITORS: As mentioned above, Kiplinger's Home Attorney and Broderbund's Family Attorney have a more extensive list of docs (many of which you'll never need IMHO). Home Attorney came preloaded on my computer so had a chance to try it -- not nearly as user friendly, kind of clunky and actually makes you edit the document to enter your name, county, etc - this scares me. Don't have Family Attorney so can't comment on its ease of use, sorry. If you really need a ton of general use forms, get Home Attorney or Family Attorney - otherwise stick with Quicken.

GET A LAWYER IF: While QLP functions well as an advisor, telling you when you might need certain documents or even specific provisions within documents, it has its limits and is candid enough to admit it during the interviews/tutorials. Get a lawyer for situations like: you expect to owe federal estate taxes ($1.5 million limit in 2003 and going up rapidly), you own a small business or you expect to have a messy family situation upon death (i.e. an ex-spouse or children that don't get along) or live in a community property state.

I used this product to practice writing up my will, my living trust and estate planning documents. It has very good online help, and explains the terminologies, includes checklists, and answers a lot of legal questions. This product will save you time with a real lawyer (who charges by the hour), in that you don't have to ask the real basic questions, since you've already been tutored. The will generated is perfectly legal, but I would advice using a lawyer for more complicated documents. The checklists and the instructions to give to your executor are great, because you can list all of the details you'd want someone to know about in case you are gone.

As others have stated, there was no promised rebate coupon in the box.

I am an owner of Quicken Lawyer 2002 Personal Deluxe. I had to reinstall the software when my computer quit. I bought a new one and installed QLP2002. When I went to use the automatic web update of the software, I was informed that "This version is no longer supported, and Web Update is not available... we recommend that you upgrade... for only $29.99. It is an outrage that Nolo has revoked patches they had previously made available. The lack of any support is the reason I will NEVER purchase another Quicken Lawyer product.

I bought this software a few months ago but didn't get around installing it until today. When I tried to register the software I got the message that the software is no longer supported! I was asked to call an 800 number to get a discount on an upgrade. This is the first time I ever ran across a name-brand software package that discontinues support before the software is even one year old! While I may still use the software I found it appalling that the publisher of this software dares to force customers to pay for an "upgrade" immediately upon installation of software that they just purchased.

I bought this program because a lawyer friend suggested that I go to a web site he liked to find will forms for the simple wills I wanted made up for myself and my husband. That web site suggested this program and the other reviews here made me comfortable with buying the program.

I went through the process to write two wills this morning and it was amazingly simple to do.

You are asked questions, and if you don't know the exact answers you have the ability to go back at a later date to fill in anything you needed to research. The finished will comes with printed instructions on how to go about signing it and getting it witnessed, and why you need to do what you need to do.

This is all very well organized.

Some of us are natural engineers, we like to dissect things just for the fun of it, or to take apart objects to know how they work. This is no different with legal contracts. The engineer in us demands that we know what the mechanics are behind the wills and contracts we face in everyday life. Quicken Lawyer does just that.

I learned a lot from the program and was able to save several hours in legal fees when I was able to say exactly what I was looking to have accomplished.

It's a great product.

I read that others did not receive the promised mail-in rebate coupon for $$$ in the box/packaging, and neither did I.

I read previous reviews before purchasing Quicken Lawyer 2003 Personal. I was concerned since other customers indicated the ... rebate information/coupon was not included in the box. So, before I actually purchased this product, I contacted www.Amazon.com for information. I received a response from customer service rep "if mistakenly the rebate redemption instructions are not included in the box we will refund you for the amount of the rebate," as long as I met all the terms and conditions. I received another email that they had spoken with the manufacturer and provided information to get the rebate. I complied with all the requirements and mailed all the info to the manufacturer on 1/13/03. I STILL HAVE NOT RECEIVED THE ... REBATE, but the software package is user friendly and good. I am going to start bugging people tomorrow 3/10/03 to find out what the problem is - I will post an update with any new information.