Solicitor-drafted will vs DIY will kit — what's the real difference?

A DIY will kit is better than nothing. But "better than nothing" is a low bar for the document that decides what happens to everything you own.

Where kits go wrong quietly

A $30 newsagent kit and a solicitor-drafted will can look pretty similar sitting in a drawer. The difference shows up later, when your family needs the thing to actually work.

Kits and free templates tend to fail in ways nobody notices at the time:

• Unclear wording. A sentence that made sense at the kitchen table can read two ways in an estate dispute.
• Witnessing mistakes. Wills have strict signing and witnessing requirements, and kits leave you to get them right on your own.
• Things left out. Assets that never make it into the will, or instructions that don't cover what happens if someone named has already died.

Nobody notices until it matters — and by then it's your family's problem, not yours.

What a solicitor actually adds

At Rural Wills, a qualified solicitor drafts and checks every will. That means someone whose job it is to spot the unclear sentence, ask about the asset you forgot, and make sure the signing and witnessing is done properly.

You still get the convenience of doing it online at home. None of the guesswork.

The honest comparison

• DIY kit: cheap upfront, no checking, you carry the risk of quiet mistakes.
• Rural Wills: fixed fee — $500 single, $750 couples — drafted and checked by a qualified solicitor, done online, signing explained step by step.

Do it once, properly. See how it works or sort your will today.

General information only — not legal advice.