Customer Reviews

Quicken Willmaker Plus 2007 [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm a fan of Nolo's Quicken Willmaker product. It helps you create your own estate planning documents as well as a few simple general legal documents. It's very easy to use, and works in all states (except Lousiana, where the estate planning documents created in this software won't be legal due to that state's specific drafting requirements).

There are a few things you should know, however, before purchasing the software.

First, Amazon also sells a book-CD version called Quicken Willmaker Estate Planning Essentials which combines a full book on estate planning with a full version of the Willmaker Plus software, and it sells for much less than the software alone! It's just a much better deal. Just search for "willmaker" in the Book section. (Note: the 2007 version, which is the one you *should* buy, is slated for release Oct. 30, according to the product page on Amazon.)

Second, the 2007 edition of the software gives you updates and tech support through the end of 2007. While you can create and modify and print and export documents created in Willmaker 2007 for as long as you own the software, you won't receive any updates beyond December 2007. If your state's estate planning law changes in January 2008, for instance, your will and other Willmaker-created documents *might* become outdated and no longer of legal value. Herein lies an interesting question, almost a catch-22: you bought this software to avoid the service of a lawyer, but in order to ascertain whether your documents will remain in legal force in the future, you may need to consult a lawyer! Of course, you can always opt to get the 2008 (and 2009 and 2010 and so on) versions. If Nolo continues to market the Estate Planning Essentials bundle for thirty bucks each year, you may still end up saving money upgrading each year rather going to a lawyer. (E.g., $30 a year times 30 years comes to less than $1000, cheaper than engaging a New York City or San Francisco lawyer for three hours!) My take: unless you live in a state that constantly alters its estate planning laws, you will probably be safe with just Willmaker 2007 and upgrade occasionally in the future, especially when your life situation experiences a big change. (For example, if you are married and, God forbid, divorce in 2011, you can skip editions 2008-2010 but do upgrade to the 2011 edition when you re-plan your estate.)

Third, while the software itself is easy to use with its step-by-step guide (and if you get the cheaper book version mentioned above, it's even better!), getting all the information you need about yourself (assets, beneficiaries, etc.) is actually quite a time-consuming process. Taht's why again I recommend the book-software bundle; it tells you what you need to do before running the software to write your will. Otherwise you'd be surprsied at how much prep work you'll actually have to do before finishing even a simple will!

One last thought: because this is self-help software, while many people will find it adequate, you may still want to talk to an estate attorney. For one thing, a legal will requires witnesses, and you might just as well pay your attorney and his assistant to act as your witnesses, if you don't want your friends or relatives to know what's in your will! For another, estate laws are getting more and more complicated, and vary by state, so a local attorney is still BY FAR the best and most reliable source and a competent attorney will provide invaluable services that no self-help software can offer. That said, I do recommend this excellent program (esp. the cheaper kit) for those obsessed with self-help and/or those looking to save money. (Yours truly belong to both types!) Besides, the Estate Planning Essential Kit, which I think is just GREAT, can educate you on the various topics in estate planning, so even if you choose to hire a lawyer, you'll talk smart and know what he or she is doing with your will and your trust.

(Again, Louisiana residents should seek an attorney's help. This software, or any other estate planning software I know of, won't work in your state.)

No adult with children or property is too young to start estate planning. However you choose to proceed, good luck!

[Disclaimer: This review, originally written Sept. 18, 2006, was updated on Oct. 9 after a Nolo representative e-mailed me about my misunderstanding of the software's update/upgrade policy. Also, please note that I'm *not* a lawyer (not even a law student!) and cannot offer any legal advice; please do not e-mail me with your legal questions.]

The average person doesn't usually have the cash on hand to hire an estate attorney at $300+ an hour to put together a will or living will for them. The average person with kids is even less able to afford it but the irony is that they need it the most in order to assure their kids are taken care of and that involves additional intricacies related to trusts, guardianship of the kids and such which makes the whole thing cost even MORE.

Now that my custody arrangement has gotten sticky, I'm remarried and have something in the way of assets, I decided to spend a few bucks on my will. Key to that notion is 'a few bucks'. I still didn't have thousands to spend. So, I bought a copy of nolo's Willmaker Plus.

If you're like me, when approaching the topic of wills, legalities, living wills and trusts, your gaze kinda glazes over and you realize that it is all very big and very complex and far too big or complex to 'get' without a law degree. This software makes it a no-brainer.

It asks you questions and you either fill in information (like someone's name) or answer yes/no to very clear, easy to understand questions. Where free form text is allowed, you get very clear instructions and examples. It also adjusts the questions and forms depending upon what state you live in and what options you selected on previous questions.

Most importantly, you don't just go through this experience blindly. It guides you through each step with detailed background information and explanations and offers reference material on each item beyond even what's offered in the instructions. At the end of the process, you know what you filled out and why.

At the end of each form, it automatically saves it to a saved library of forms that you have filled out for quick access later and gives you the option to preview, modify or print. The printed copies come complete with signing instructions and notary and/or witness fields.

Having all of the contact information for everyone together before hand and a general idea of what needed to go to who, it took me about an hour to create a will (complete with a UTMA), a living will, a temporary guardianship letter for my son and his step dad, a final arrangements declaration and automatically generated letters to my executor and elected health care agent.

It is exactly what I needed. It's quick. It's in plain English. It's easy. It's cheap for what you get, which is essentially hours of an attorney's time for a fairly cut and dry task and peace of mind that everything is taken care of.

I just used this program to make wills and healthcare directives for my wife and me. I have the book-CD version. I recommend it over just the CD, because it is a better financial deal, and you do not have to read a PDF online or print it out.
Here are some of the features that I thought were worth noting:
* The program divides a document into sections and shows you a list of those sections, indicating which sections you have done. You can resume the interview at the beginning of any section and make changes from that point on.
* After doing one will, you can go to the File menu and Save for Spouse. This creates a copy of the will with the spouses names interchanged. Then you can go through the interview and make any needed changes.
* In the process of answering the questions, the program accumulates the names of people you mention into an editable contact list. After you mention someone once, the next time you need them you can simply select them from a list. This is handy when doing the healthcare directive, which needs to show contact information, if you have already entered that information when doing the will. It is also handy if you decide to redo portions of either document. When working on one family member's document, you can import contacts from another's document.
* The program does not appear to provide the option to list of two or more alternate executors to serve one at a time in the order named. The only way to list two or more alternate executors is to have two or more of them serve together. This is ironic, since the program recommends having only one executor at a time. Although I wanted to name my wife, children, and then siblings as alternate executors, I decided to accept just having my wife and son as executor and alternate. If all of us die in an auto accident while taking a trip together, then there is hopefully time for the probate court to name an executor. It would just be more expedient to have one already named.
* I contacted customer support asking them to enhance the program to add an option to list of two or more alternate executors to serve one at a time in the order named. The response stated why they chose to omit that option ("The editors choose to limit the number of fields for Beneficiaries and Executors to prevent the program from becoming to unwieldy") and some options (export the document and add the language or return the program). I was disappointed that they did not embrace my suggestion (I disagreed that it would make the program too unwieldy, since they already allow you to list multiple Beneficiaries and Executors that serve together at the same time), but I liked that I received a prompt response that indicated they had read my note and knew what I was talking about, and that they gave an honest, direct answer.
* At the end of the interview you can review the document as it will print. You can then print it directly to a printer, or export it as plain text or RTF. Exporting to RTF is handy if you need to change the document (they advise against changing it) or print it somewhere else. However, the RTF is not identical to printing directly. I noticed two differences. (1) Pagination can be different, and as explained by the program, getting the pagination right is important for legal reasons. (2) The footer is always different: the directly printed copy says how many total pages, whereas the RTF one does not. If you cannot print directly to a printer, I recommend printing to a PDF to maintain the pagination and other features. If you do not have a way to create a PDF, get a free PDF Writer (search on that term). When you print the document to PDF, print it as prepress so you embed the fonts.

Like many of my friends neither my husband nor I had a will. A will was for our parents, people with lots of money or those in particularly dangerous professions. But with the birth of our son we realised that we needed to figure out who would take care of him in the event that something happened to both of us.

Not having a large estate we decided to try out Willmaker Plus and it is great. It has lots of different forms that we don't need as yet but may soon. The will itself is very straight forward and asked lots of great questions that we never even thought of. I showed the final document to my father-in-law, a lawyer, and he says it all looks fine. This has been a relief for both my husband and I.

Like I said if you have lots of benefactors and a really complicated estate this is probably not right for you. But if you want a good will that will provide for a child or two then I think this is great.

The lawsuit mentioned in Mr John Matlock "Gunny" review has nothing to do with the quality or legality of documents created using Quicken WillMaker Plus software. Instead, it concerns the actions of an insurance agent who was found to have practiced law without a license.

He used will-making software (not Quicken WillMaker Plus) to write a will
for an elderly client. The trouble arose because he created the will outside of her presence and arranged for her to sign it while she was hospitalized. Apparently she never reviewed the will. In other words, he acted too much like a lawyer. While the "unauthorized practice of law" is a vague concept, had the insurance agent merely recorded the woman's wishes and entered them verbatim into the software, there would almost certainly have been no problem.

There is no problem with using software to prepare a will for your self. Nor is there a problem with using it to create a will for someone else if you merely type in that person's answers at their direction. The main way to run afoul of unauthorized-practice-of-law rules is to give legal advice to or prepare documents for others without their express, detailed instructions.

There are several real advantages to using Quicken Willmaker software.

1. The legal part of the software was done by Nolo. They publish an awful lot of do-it-yourself software, and are well respected (if you are not a lawyer). Nolos involvement helps to assure me of a quality product.

2. The user interface, a fill in the blank approach with a lot of help screens, make the whole process quite easy and painless to go through.

3. Besides the standard last will, the package includes a number of other documents that you may want decide you need. Among others this includes Living Trust, Living Will, Final Arrangements, Notice to Terminate Joint Credit Card Accounts, Child Care Agreement & instructions, and many more.

Having said that, there are two problems with the software:

1. If you live in Louisiana, your laws are based on the French system, not the English system and there is a caution on the box that says: 'Estate planning documents not valid in Louisiana.'

2. There has been at least one law suit saying that if you fill out the will for another person, you may be practicing law without a license. Do a Google search on 'Heirs sue over will-making software' where someone apparently used this software to do a will for a lady.

This software offers simple and easy to use way of getting ones affairs in order.

This software is easy to use. It's like tax software, it ask questions, you answer. Has everything I wanted it for and a lot more. I would recommend it.Cheaper than a lawyer.

My brother in law used this software and said it was great: he lives in TX. Unfortunately this software is NOT VALID for estate planning in Louisiana. I did not see this disclosure anywhere on the site before I purchased it. Louisiana residents: beware!

I have created two living wills/Power of Attorney for medical with attachments thru this program and have found it quite satisfactory. It appears to be inclusive of the items I wanted to cover.