Can you prepare your own will, without the assistance of a lawyer? Yes, of course you can. The truth is, you will probably get it right on your own. But it may make sense to involve a lawyer even if your self-prepared will turns out to be perfectly valid.

Merle Knowles may have been trying to save a few dollars when he bought a preprinted will form. He asked his son Randy to help him fill it out. Besides, his estate was modest; other than a few bank accounts (which already listed beneficiaries to whom the proceeds would be "payable on death"), Mr. Knowles’ estate consisted of only his home and real property with a total value of less than $100,000. At his father’s direction, Randy Knowles filled in the blank spaces on the form and took his father to a business associate’s office to sign the document.

Three years later Merle Knowles died. That was when two of his daughters, Vickie Wall and Terry Lyons, began a will contest. They argued that their father had not properly signed the will itself, that Randy’s help in filling in the blanks was evidence of his undue influence, and that Randy had been effectively practicing law—without a license—when he helped his father prepare the will.

The trial court disagreed with Mr. Knowles’ daughters on all scores. The judge relied on evidence that Mr. Knowles was a strong-willed man who both knew his wishes and had made them clear to friends and family for years before his death. Furthermore, ruled the judge, Randy Knowles had not been practicing law by filling out the will form; the practice of law is much more about reviewing options and choosing the proper approach than it is about completing forms.

The Washington State Court of Appeals upheld the trial judge’s ruling. The evidence was strong, said the appellate court, that the will reflected Mr. Knowles’ wishes, not those of his son. The fact that Mr. Knowles’ close associates had never met his daughters even after decades of knowing Mr. Knowles indicated that maybe his decision to favor one child over others was based on his relationship with his son, not undue influence. Estate of Knowles, October 3, 2006.

Mr. Knowles’ will was ultimately upheld by the courts, but the legal saga shows the value of involving a lawyer in the preparation of even a simple will. Randy Knowles spent years and probably thousands of dollars in litigating the validity of his father’s will—far more than a lawyer would have cost in the first instance. While involving a lawyer would not have prevented a will challenge, it would have removed all of the arguments actually used by the disgruntled heirs.

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