This Week's Topic: Doing Your Own Will

Should you draft your own will? Well, it is quick and does not cost anything, at least when you do it. But what if you make a mistake? Who does your beneficiary or beneficiaries sue?

I was retained as an expert witness in what seemed to be a simple estate planning case about 10 years ago. A very good attorney had represented a man in a divorce action. A few years later the client returned and said he wanted a will giving his new spouse the family home and the children by his first spouse the $1 million ranch. The attorney complied.

A few years later the client died and the new spouse called the attorney and said she wanted all of the property transferred to her name. The attorney told her that her husband