Tom was handy. He fixed his own plumbing, built a deck in his backyard, and once rewired a light fixture from a YouTube tutorial. So when it came time to write a will, he figured he’d handle that himself too.
He found a template online, filled it in, printed it out, and signed it at his kitchen table with his wife and a neighbor as witnesses. Done. Twenty minutes and twenty dollars.
Tom passed away four years later. And that’s when his family discovered the problem.
Texas has specific rules about how a will must be signed and witnessed to be valid. Tom’s will didn’t meet them. The neighbor who signed wasn’t supposed to be a witness given her connection to the estate. The document was thrown out.
Because Tom died without a valid will, the state’s default rules decided who got what — rules that didn’t account for his blended family, his wishes for his business, or the specific items he’d wanted to leave to specific people.
His family didn’t blame him. They knew he was trying to take care of them. But they spent months — and real money — trying to sort out what he’d intended.
I share Tom’s story not to frighten anyone, but because it’s more common than people realize. Templates are written for a general audience in a general state of legal knowledge. They don’t know your family. They don’t know Texas. And they can’t catch the mistake you didn’t know you were making.
Getting a will done properly isn’t expensive or complicated when you work with someone who knows what they’re doing. It’s one of the best investments you can make for the people you love.