How To Make A Will In Australia - 3 Options To Suit Any Budget! - YouTube

The truth is at some point we are all going to die.

Back in a research study, conducted by Finder in 2018, they found that one in two of us

didn't have a valid will in place.

As you know, I'm an insurance nerd, and along with insurance, wills are one of those things

that we typically don't like to talk about, even though we all know the importance of

a will, it tends to be one of those things that we keep putting off.

So today I wanted to share with you the three broad ways that you can get a will to help

get this important task off your to do list once and for all.

The first way of getting a will done is to do it yourself, using an online will kit.

The second way to get this done is what I've called a done with you or a hybrid model of

getting a will.

And finally, there's the traditional way of going through a solicitor, which I'm calling

a done for you service.

To make it easier for you, I've timestamped each of those sections and you can jump ahead

if you need to.

As always everything that's been mentioned, the links are available in the comments below.

Hey guys, welcome back to the channel.

My name's Craig and I'm the founder and head insurance expert here at True Pride.

On this channel, I share videos that help simplify the world of insurance to make it

easier for you.

If you're new here, hit that subscribe button and be notified each time I release these

videos, you can see that there's a massive increase in the number of searches for how

to get your will online.

Not only is there this level of uncertainty that's going on at the moment, but we all

tend to have a little bit more time on our hands to get onto some days life admin tasks.

My hope is that this video will help you to understand the different options that are

available to you to get your will done.

Now, I know that you're smart, and if you're watching this video, I hope that it brings

together all the information that you need to know about the different options for getting

your wheels sorted.

You will then be able to make the decision that works best for you and your family after

considering each of the options that are available to you.

So firstly, let's have a look at that.

DIY will kit option.

The DIY will kit is the most basic and cost effective option available to you.

A quick Google search will bring up a few different options of providers for this basic

will.

Now I've had a look at the offering from the state trustees who offer a DIY wheel for $31.50

or a will and power of attorney bundle for $61.

To get started, it's pretty simple.

Simply enter your basic details for setting up an account, pay the money online, and then

you'll be able to download the PDF version of this will for you to start completing this.

There's also a guide that's available online for you to start using as a reference when

you're looking at how to complete this will, this is a valid and legal will if completed

correctly, but there is a couple of things that you should be careful of.

I had to look at the Morris Blackburn website and just a bit of a caveat, I'm sure they're

trying to upsell you into a more tailored wheel option, but they highlighted four key

options for you to be careful of when doing these DIY wills.

The first of these was trying to give away assets that you don't own.

The second was failing to comply with basic legal formality, such as the witnesses signing

in different coloured ink.

The third was overlooking the fact that circumstances change.

A will needs to be drafted, to take into consideration.

These changes fourthly was for getting to a point and executor.

Now, whilst this DIY, like it is the most basic of the wheel options available to you.

You do have the ability to draft up a Legal will, which is much better than nothing.

If you've got a really simple situation such as it's just you, you've got some basic assets

such as your house or your super fund, or if you're not comfortable using an online

system, like the hybrid models that we'll share in a second required to do this basic

wheel option might be the best solution for you.

So let's take a look at this hybrid wheel offering or the done with you service.

This hybrid model is almost like a supercharged wheel, if you like.

The questions that you'll be asked online are built by solicitor to give a framework

that gives you a valid legal will.

These online platforms have been set up and a series of questions will guide you through.

What's required to set up your will in line with your intentions.

You'll generally have access to chat support, but this is not a service that offers legal

advice when it comes to the structuring of your will.

I've had to look at two of these offerings in detail.

I've looked at Willed and Safewill.

Willed is an online service with this chat support, which offers you a online will for

$159.

When I was completing the online questions to prepare my will through Willed, completing

the online questions with Will was really simple and took me about five minutes to do.

To help understand a little bit more about Willed, I interviewed co-founder Aaron Zelman

to share a little bit more about how Willed as offering worked.

So I've been a financial advisor myself focused on life for many, many years.

So I've seen an obvious need.

I'm a diligent sort of person.

I got all my wills done through a lawyer the traditional way years ago, but there hasn't

been a simple way.

The average person out there, average adult who has kids and a mortgage and to get things

done in terms of a will in a cost effective and quick manner.

We've seen a growing trend overseas.

There's been some standout players overseas who've done a great job.

In fact, about one in 10 wills in the UK are now being done online.

So it's time to bring that trend to Australia and make it as easy as possible.

So, uh, for the last year or so, we've been building the software to make it a very smooth,

clear process.

And that's what we have to play in willed.com.au

I think there's the will kit, which is your real basic entry level, one $30.

And I spoke about that a bit earlier in the video.

Um, but I guess the biggest difference that I see between that and what you guys offer

it is there is some guidance from a solicitor and it helps overcome some of those key things

that are missed from that being signature's not matching, um, you know, no executor, that

sort of stuff there too.

That's right.

I mean, a will kit is prone to areas because you could just leave sections out and therefore

it's going to be invalid just from the get go.

It's also just a bit tedious to write everything out these days.

We're sort of happy just to put out details online very quickly.

So it's, it's prone to error, but I mean, it can be a valid will, no question.

It's a bit like going out and getting furniture from eBay or from what's left on the lawn

somewhere.

Yes.

You've got furniture in your house and it's cheap that's okay.

But, um, I would be that what we call the model as more of a lawyer designed a bit like

an IKEA where you have designers, industrial designers, making sure that the products are

really great.

And then the consumer comes in and gets a very easy to use product that's efficient

and quick to assemble most of the time, not if I'm doing it, but the IKEA model really

gets a great result.

And then obviously with a lawyer, you've got a more complex process.

Um, it can be fantastic.

It'd be like getting a furniture designer and a furniture build a custom made, et cetera

to do it.

And for some people that's put on me and want, but most people really just need to get a

will in place, and this is sort of the IKEA model of that.

The second of the hybrid models that I looked at was the offering from Safewill.

These guys are another online service, which offers a will for $190 as an individual, or

$300 for a couple.

Again, completing the online questions.

When I did this was simple and fast.

I did find that the Safewill offer had a couple more questions, particularly around pets and

specific assets.

Again, to give you a bit more context of the Safewill offering, I spoke with the founder

and CEO, Adam Lubosfky to explain a bit more about the Safewill offering.

So we started Safewill early 2019, uh, and went to market at the end of last year.

And the reason why we started it, so there was a personal story.

A friend of mine passed away without a will.

And it got in myself and my co-founder trying to work out what this aversion to will writing

really boiled down to.

Um, we realised that it was three main things.

It was sort of effort, cost and a taboo if thinking about mortality and planning for

it.

And so we wanted to design a platform that was easy to use that empowered people to write

their will how they wanted to at a low cost and in a really sort of friendly, uh, emotionally

engaging way.

And so that was how we came up with Safewill.

We created a platform that allowed people to write a bespoke will, in 20 minutes from

their phone while sitting on the couch and for, you know, 190 bucks.

And I think I mentioned to you before, I really enjoy filling it out.

It's intuitive, but not basic.

Yeah, absolutely.

And sort of that, that fine line of you want to make it really easy for people to use,

but you also want to provide an educational platform.

Yeah.

Highlights the things that people should be thinking about.

For example, pets, um, you know, you've got furbabies are often forgotten part of an estate

plan.

I'm glad you thought it was, it was well integrated.

Oh, it's just the, it's the type of website I like to use.

You know, those ones that are they're visually appealing, but they also don't scrimp.

You can find more detail if you'd want it, but there's a having done a lot of this stuff.

I'm sure you've sent it too, but to make something look simple, it's actually really hard.

That for us was the most challenging part.

It was very easy to get sort of a comprehensive platform, but how you get something that's

really comprehensive, but extremely easy for someone who isn't an estate lawyer to use.

And that was, you know, that was sort of the delicate and complicated balance that we needed

to find.

I really like this hybrid model and I feel that for most people it offers a solution

that's affordable and also helps you avoid some of those common mistakes of the DIY wheel

kit that you may not have been aware of.

There are two major limitations I see of this hybrid model and they are, firstly, not being

able to add a power of attorney.

This means that you're not able to add a power of attorney for either medical or financial

decisions to be made on your behalf.

And I know that this is an area that these hybrid models are looking to add in the future.

Secondly, the ability to add a testamentary trust, typically isn't available through these

hybrid models, the ability to add a testamentary gives you some really handy solutions.

If you're looking at tax minimization and asset protection to access both of these benefits,

you'd need to go down the more traditional models that we'll touch on next, by going

through a solicitor.

The third option is the more traditional way of getting a will, which is going through

a solicitor now I've been using a service called Legal Hub for about the last five years.

Legal Hub have a panel of solicitors that they use and put forward based on the most

appropriate for what you're looking for.

Their model allows you to access a quality solicitor, no matter where you are in Australia

at an affordable price.

To give you an idea of pricing, this will start at about a thousand dollars for a couple

and includes a power of attorney, testamentary trust, as well as the letter of wishes and

storage, to give you some more information on this model.

I interviewed Brent Dillon from Legal Hub to share more about this.

Yeah, look, we kicked off about 2015, uh, and it was, it's a pretty simple business

model.

It's about how do we bring full service, high quality legal solutions, particularly in the

area of estate planning and business succession planning to networks of advisors and accountants.

Uh, so delivering it, the clients getting the same outcome, same quality of documentation,

same quality of advice, but without the cost and inconvenience of having to travel into

a CBD location.

And as you would know, I mean, many clients live in rural communities or living in regional

areas, but even the ones that are in our major centres, uh, most of them don't live within

a 10 kilometre radius of the CBD.

So it was really about the legal hub finding, you know, those quality law firms that operate

in the space, um, putting a panel together, which we've done, streamlining a nice, simple

process that gets efficiencies for both the client, the advisor and the law firm, and

then delivering that in terms of what the cost outcomes look like.

I think it's a good and good timing too with, um, what's going on in the world at the moment

to be able to offer a service remotely.

Um, so the cost savings are obviously beneficial, being able to do something without having

to go to a legal office is, is definitely beneficial as well.

Isn't it?

Look, it is.

And we sort of started in this space probably nearly 15 years ago when, and had a business.

It was a precursor to the Legal Hub lawyer.

And we were using at the time go to meeting, which was about the only sort of reliable

platform back in those days.

Um, and it was, it was a bit of a challenge to start with because clearly getting, um,

lawyers comfortable in giving advice, you know, in a non-face-to-face environment was

the first challenge.

And then obviously having advisors comfortable that they would would adopt it, but look it

certainly did happen.

I mean, 15 years down the track and probably what this covert pandemic has done is it's

really just exploded this whole online meeting technology even further.

The whole premise of this video was to share with you the different options that are available

when you're looking at your will.

I hope that you'll be able to make your own decision as to which is the most appropriate

for you and your family, depending on your complexity and the budget that you have.

One of these options will work best for you, but remember any of the options that you choose

is better than not having a will at all.

You may not think that your situation is complex enough to warrant going to see a solicitor

about where you don't have enough assets or those sorts of things as well.

One thing to remember is that any insurance policies that you hold as well will form part

of your estate, as Brant touched on most of us in that case, we'll have a pretty significant

pot of assets or money that needs to be distributed.

Should anything happen to us.

Getting a wheel might seem like an overwhelming experience and it can be quite complex, but

with the right advice, this can be simplified and give you the peace of mind that this has

been done correctly.

I feel that with these new offerings, such as the hybrid models and that sort of thing,

it's never been easier for us to get our wills sorted out.

If you have any questions, let me know in the comments below.