Is a free online Will enough?
The short of it is yes.
As far as standing up in the Masters Office goes, our free Will is a fully fledged legal document. It’ll cover the basics.
The long of it is no.
Our free Will covers:
the appointment of beneficiaries (who’ll get your assets when you die)
the appointment of executors (who’ll wrap up your estate when you die)
things the free life file will doesn’t cover:
the custody and guardianship of children
the setting up of trusts, their administration and termination
dealing with your body
a Living Will
I have a Will very similar to the free pop.law one. It says that when I die, everything I own goes to my husband. It also nominates him as the executor of my estate. As of right this minute, if either of us were to kick the bucket, we’d have something in place to at least govern the proceedings.
That being said, we are due to book time with a lawyer to speak through some of the specific things relating to our shared life. To document specific assets. To deal with things like what happens if we die within days of each other - then who would get our assets? We’d need to revisit our Wills again when we have a child. Or if we start more businesses. And. And. And. There is no one size fits all Will template to accommodate everyone’s situations and wishes.
The free pop.law Will is a basic version that’ll do the job for now. If you aren’t able to afford legal fees to sit with a lawyer right now, it’s better to have a simple Will in place than nothing at all. The great thing about a Will is that you can always make changes to it later on - and you’ll need to as life happens, as wealth accumulates, as your asset base expands.
The first prize, in any instance, is to meet with a lawyer. You don’t need to go to them for the full drafting of your Will. You can take along your free Will and ask them to advise on how and where to make additions. They’ll ask the right questions and elicit the right answers to make sure your specific wishes will be met when you die. If you’ve got kids, especially minors, you should spend a bit of time with a lawyer to chat about their guardianship and discuss how and when their inheritance will be given to them.