{"id":459662,"date":"2026-06-04T00:02:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T00:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/459662\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T00:02:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T00:02:32","slug":"5-types-of-people-who-shouldnt-use-an-online-will-and-5-who-should","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/459662\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Types of People Who Shouldn\u2019t Use an Online Will \u2014 and 5 Who Should"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s a statistic that should worry you: only 24% of American adults have a will, according to Caring.com\u2019s 2025 Wills and Estate Planning Study<\/a>. That\u2019s down from 33% just three years ago.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, online will services have never been cheaper or easier. Trust & Will, LegalZoom, FreeWill, Quicken WillMaker \u2014 you can build a legal document in under an hour for around $150 to $200.<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s the catch?<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been a CPA since 1981, and I\u2019ve seen plenty of DIY wills land families in court for years. I\u2019ve also watched perfectly good online wills sail through probate without a hiccup.<\/p>\n

The truth? Online wills are great for some people. For others, they\u2019re a financial time bomb.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how to tell which one you are.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t use an online will if you\u2019re one of these 5 people
\n1. You\u2019re in a blended family<\/p>\n

Stepkids, ex-spouses, half-siblings \u2014 these wreck more wills than anything else.<\/p>\n

A boilerplate online form has no idea your second husband has two children from a prior marriage whom you adore but don\u2019t want inheriting your first husband\u2019s investment account. Get one detail wrong and that money may end up exactly where you didn\u2019t want it.<\/p>\n

An attorney who handles blended-family estates for a living knows the traps. Software doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

2. You own a business<\/p>\n

A business interest isn\u2019t just an asset \u2014 it\u2019s a living thing that has to keep running while your estate gets sorted out.<\/p>\n

Who runs the company during probate? How do partners buy out your share? What happens to key-person insurance? Online forms can\u2019t answer questions like these. An estate attorney can.<\/p>\n

3. You have a child or grandchild with special needs<\/p>\n

This one\u2019s huge. If you leave money outright to a disabled loved one, you may disqualify them from Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income, and other benefits<\/a> worth tens of thousands of dollars a year.<\/p>\n

The fix is a special needs trust \u2014 a specific legal structure that holds the money on their behalf without counting as theirs for benefits purposes. No online template I\u2019ve seen handles this correctly.<\/p>\n

4. Your estate is large \u2014 or close to it<\/p>\n

The 2026 federal estate tax exemption is $15 million per person, or $30 million per couple, according to the Internal Revenue Service. Above that, you\u2019re looking at up to a 40% tax bite.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the trap. Twelve states plus D.C. impose their own estate tax, and five levy inheritance taxes, according to the Tax Foundation<\/a>. In Oregon and Massachusetts, the tax kicks in at just $1 million and $2 million, respectively \u2014 including your home, retirement accounts, and life insurance.<\/p>\n

Live in a state like that and smart planning can save your heirs a fortune. An online form won\u2019t even know to ask.<\/p>\n

5. Your state has strict execution rules, or you own property in multiple states<\/p>\n

Most states still require two in-person witnesses watching you sign. New York and New Jersey, for instance, don\u2019t recognize electronic signatures or remote witnessing for wills at all.<\/p>\n

And if you own real estate in more than one state, your heirs may face probate in each one. That\u2019s the kind of nightmare a local attorney can plan around \u2014 often with a simple revocable trust.<\/p>\n

Quick aside \u2014 most internet financial advice comes from people who weren\u2019t alive during the last recession. I\u2019ve been writing about money for more than 35 years. Want rock-solid advice? Sign up for the free Money Talks Newsletter<\/a>. Takes 10 seconds. No fluff. No spam.<\/p>\n

Online wills are fine if you\u2019re one of these 5 people
\n1. You\u2019re young, single, and your assets are simple<\/p>\n

You\u2019re 30, unmarried, no kids. Your assets are a 401(k), a car, and a checking account. Congratulations \u2014 you\u2019re the textbook candidate.<\/p>\n

Your 401(k) passes by beneficiary form anyway, not by will. The rest is straightforward. A $199 will from Trust & Will is honestly all you need.<\/p>\n

2. You\u2019re married with shared kids and uncomplicated assets<\/p>\n

Both spouses, one set of kids, a house, a couple of retirement accounts, some savings. Most online platforms handle this scenario in a guided interview.<\/p>\n

The big decisions \u2014 naming a guardian for the kids, naming an executor, dividing the estate \u2014 are exactly what these tools were built for.<\/p>\n

3. Your wishes are simple and uncontested<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything goes to my spouse, and if she\u2019s gone, split it equally among our three children.\u201d That\u2019s a clean instruction an online form handles fine.<\/p>\n

Trouble starts when wishes get conditional: \u201cJoe gets the lake house, but only if he doesn\u2019t sell it for 10 years, and if he does, it reverts to\u2026\u201d Online forms can\u2019t draft those well.<\/p>\n

4. You currently have no will at all<\/p>\n

This is the most important point in the article. If you have no will, your state writes one for you \u2014 and the consequences of dying intestate<\/a> are uglier than most people realize.<\/p>\n

Roughly three-quarters of Americans have no will, per Caring.com. A flawed online will beats no will every single time. Get something in place this week. Upgrade later if your life gets more complicated.<\/p>\n

5. You\u2019re updating something simple in an existing plan<\/p>\n

Need to swap an executor? Add a new grandchild as a beneficiary? Update an address?<\/p>\n

Some online platforms let you make minor changes for a small annual fee. That\u2019s perfectly reasonable \u2014 assuming the original plan was sound to start with.<\/p>\n

Which online service should you use?<\/p>\n

Choose your tool. There are plenty of online legal services you can use. We\u2019re currently partnering with Trust & Will<\/a>. They charge a flat fee of\u00a0$199 for an individual will-based estate plan, and $299 for a married couple.<\/p>\n

Before you begin, however, decide what you want. Who inherits what? Who raises your kids? Who handles your medical decisions if you can\u2019t? Write it down in plain English before you do anything else.<\/p>\n

The bottom line<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not anti-online-will. I\u2019m anti-wrong-tool-for-the-job.<\/p>\n

If your life is simple, an online will is one of the smartest $200 investments you\u2019ll ever make.<\/p>\n

If your life is complicated \u2014 blended family, business, special needs child, big estate \u2014 a few thousand dollars for the right estate attorney<\/a> is cheap insurance against the legal mess your loved ones will inherit otherwise.<\/p>\n

Whatever you do, do something. Procrastination has killed more estate plans than bad lawyering ever has.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s a statistic that should worry you: only 24% of American adults have a will, according to Caring.com\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459663,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[138,246,111,139,69,244,245],"class_list":["post-459662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-finance","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}