A will can look complete and still leave a family with no clear answer.
That is the danger with a $99 will kit or free AI generated will. A mistake can sit quietly in a drawer for years, discovered only after someone dies and the only person who can explain it is gone.
The real cost of a cheap will is often paid by the people left behind.
An executor carries out your will. A beneficiary receives what you leave behind. One person can be both, but they are different roles.
In one New Zealand example, a young person completing an online will kit named themselves as executor and did not name a backup. After their accidental death, the family needed a court application. Their father, someone they had a difficult relationship with, was appointed to administer the estate.
New Zealand lawyers have also seen DIY wills that let the executor decide who receives the balance of the estate, rather than naming beneficiaries. What was intended as flexibility created uncertainty that could prevent the person’s wishes being carried out.
Imagine leaving your savings to your daughter, then asking her or her partner to witness your signature. The will may look complete, but her gift could be at risk.
Others sign separately from their witnesses, use only one witness or make handwritten changes without having them properly witnessed. Fixing these errors may require a High Court application.
In another New Zealand situation, a seriously ill person used a will kit to leave everything to the sibling who had cared for them. It was only partly completed and was not properly signed and witnessed.
The High Court accepted it, but only after the family asked a judge to decide what the person intended.
New Zealand courts have also considered unsigned drafts, emails, handwritten notes and even a spreadsheet. Sometimes the Court can rescue someone’s wishes. Sometimes it cannot. A court case is a poor substitute for a properly prepared will.
AI can produce a polished looking will in seconds. It cannot notice the blended family, dependent child, family loan, jointly owned home, trust, business or farm, or a likely challenge.
It may use overseas law or terms that do not work as expected here. The New Zealand Law Society warns that common generative AI tools have limited New Zealand legal training and can produce convincing but inaccurate information.
AI will not check your capacity, spot pressure from someone else, confirm how your assets are owned or be there after your death to explain what you meant.
Not every will kit is automatically invalid. A template may work for a genuinely straightforward situation. The difficulty is knowing whether your life is as simple as the template assumes.
A good will should identify who will manage your estate, who will benefit and what happens if your first choices cannot act. It should be properly witnessed and work with your property ownership, family circumstances and wider life planning.
A lawyer asks the questions you may not know to ask, explains the consequences and records your instructions clearly. The aim is not to make things complicated. It is to prevent uncertainty for those left behind.
Your life is not standard. Your family is not a drop down menu. Your will should not be either.
If you have used a will kit or AI-generated will, talk to our Life Planning team. We can explain the common warning signs and whether a proper review may be worthwhile.
Originally published in the Wairarapa Times Age.