Quicken Willmaker Plus 2016: Book & Software Kit 11th Edition

Very simply laid out with a good CD. Don't worry if it is a bit outdated, the basics have never really changed. In fact, the law allows for a signed & dated written, in your own hand, and signed "Holographic Will." , while it could be entertaining, it doesn't involve a talking holographic Princess Leia. It's easy to look that up on the internet. It reminds one of all the issues that must be addressed before dying, including, if you'd prefer to go naturally, if you want to be buried or thrown three sheets to the wing as reflecting ones's life, and basically taking away some decisions that your loved ones won't want to do because they will always wonder if they made the right choice. It also helps think if there is someone who would be best to see your wishes be carried out. So it's a great useable reminder with the tools to help write it all down. The hardest part id finding 2 witnesses and a notary.

I contacted a "will shop" about having new wills made after we moved to another state. After I regained consciousness after hearing what new wills would cost, I decided to research DIY will software. Quicken Willmaker had good reviews and seemed to address all the legal concerns we had. My husband and I independently went through the "interview" process. Then we compared our wills. It was rather humorous for us to try to figure out what we'd answered to result in the differences we'd generated. Fortunately we have two computers so we could go through the software on separate computers and compare our answers so that we could express our wishes in the manner we desired. This is a very reasonably priced alternative to going to a lawyer or "will shop". The software is very user friendly. Great for our wills!

I a very impressed with the thoroughness and detail. A few places could give a little more flexibility or choices. One major thing it is missing for here in Texas, it is missing a relatively new form called OOH-DNR Order- acronym for Out-of-Hospital DNR form . The old form covers one once you are admitted into the hospital, but does not cover you prior to the actual hospital admission, including in the emergency room. This form number is EF01-11421, revised July 1, 2009 ([...]). You can get access to it from the Texas Department of State Health Services.Note that this MUST be a two-sided form, single page. Then this leads to the current leads one to- what form now applies for in-the-hospital DNR...well it is now called "Directive to Physicians and Family or Surrogates" which comes from the Texas "Advanced Directive Act (see pp 166.033, Health and Safety Code" ([...]). Both forms are very important to have ready and available when needed.

Did not utilize online or phone chat assistance, and still got what I believe to be some well done documents in about six or seven hours of revision after revision caused by family comments and criticism...lol. Doubt that my $300 per hour basic family attorney would have withstood such a barrage of opinions without telling us to come back later, when we had it figured out. Easily would have cost a $1000 by the time we were done.Did Power of Attorney for Finances in about 30 minutes....Did spend $250 consultation with attorney first, so I knew what we could and could not do concerning special bequeaths, trusts, and rental real estate.Well worth my time. Will probably submit to another attorney for review.Ps: also bought Special Needs Trusts by same company and authors.

I bought this Will writing guide without knowing what I was getting into. Even though it sat on my book shelf for a year before I got back to it, it didn't get any riper with age. The book covers a lot and is very educational in planning for the disposition of an estate - not so much in detail but enough to send you on a research mission for the more detailed info.The software is another story. I found the software to be less than user friendly, especially if you don't know anything about Wills and estate planning. Furthermore, it is very limited in it's customization. Sometimes one has to answer "Yes" or "No" to a question when the answer might be neither. Where there is more than one beneficiary one has no choice to use percentages to designate how much of the total bequest is to go to the heir. The answer demands that you enter a fraction. That is not too bad with only two people unless you want it to be something like 41% and 59% (convert that to fractions on the fly!). But try breaking it down between 8 grandchildren at different percentages - you can get close by juggling the numbers by breaking the percentages down into fractions, but that can get to be time consuming before you get the notification that tells you everything adds up correctly. Also, I understand the reasoning for it, but I didn't care for the program when it disallowed me from going forward without answering a question. Moreover, when backing up to change something you might get a message that tells you that you changed too much so now you have to go back to the start (without passing "GO" and not collecting your $200).These are but couple of issues that I ran across before I gave up and just answered the questions and printed the document out as a .pdf and used a pdf editor to fill in the blanks as would like for them to be - of course, without changing the legal terminology.All-in-all I regret paying as much for this as I did - here on Amazon. If anything, I have learned from the experience and now have more questions than answers. ~