Review by C. G. King

I knew I needed to plan and have a will but kept putting it off. This product got me started and greatly reduced legal fees. I knew I wanted a living trust and wanted a lawyer involved but dreaded the expense. By using this product to become informed about all the questions and forms, I was able to prepare my will and a framework for the trust which I can now take to a lawyer for verification and filing for a fraction of the cost of going in cold. The product produces the appropriate documents which you can have notarized and will serve the legal need, but for something this important I wanted to spare my kids any issues by having everything reviewed and officially verified.

We used a Living Trust for my mother which worked really well for her and then for us following her death which kept the disposition of her effects, sale of her house, etc., as painless as possible in a state where the estate laws are onerous. It encouraged me to do the same for my kids.

I’d been avoiding the process until I bought this product which got me started. In the box is the software CD and a book, but it is not an instruction manual. It is ‘The Legal Answer Book for Families’ and includes the topics: adoption, child custody, domestic partnerships, teenagers, elder care, marriage, name change, tax breaks and divorce with free updates on the Nolo website. The product user manual is a pdf file included in the software so an internet connection is not required to access it.

The product installed easily on my Win7 PC and offered a free download of updates but upon reading the items included in the update, I didn’t bother as they didn’t apply to me. The software starts with a short movie which I found useful and informative. It is laid out well and very easy to use. There are five sections which can be tackled separately. They are: Will, Health Care Directive, Durable Power of Attorney for Finances, Final Arrangements and Information for Caregivers and Survivors. The documents created are listed under each topic as you create them and you can easily return to any one to review or change it.

There is plenty of help along the way, including a checklist of items to gather before starting each section. This is precisely why I wanted to use such a product before involving a lawyer. Having all this thought out in advance and recorded is well worth the cost of the software.

From what I’ve seen so far, the product is very complete and covers needs for people in all categories. I think it’s important to have a will and this product is meeting my needs really well.