Internet Legal Forms Company Sued For Unauthorized Practice of Law

I was cruising through law blogs on the Internet the other day and came across an interesting case in the Wall Street Journal Law Blog.  A legal forms company is being sued in the State of Missouri for the unauthorized practice of law.  

While I can definitely see both sides of this case, a recent conversation I had on this subject came to mind. During a birthday dinner at a friend's house, one of her neighbors asked me if she could just do her Will online.  Before I could answer, another neighbor jumped in and said, "Absolutely not!  My dad did that and it was a huge mess that took years to clean up." 

Apparently her father had an illegitimate child who he had wanted to exclude from his Will.  But by using the online Will form, he had not followed Minnesota law.  Under Minnesota law, you have to specifically name the children you are including and the children you are intentionally excluding. Otherwise, the law assumes you simply forgot to list the child's name in the Will. The Will has to make it clear that a parent intended to omit a child under Minnesota Statute 524.2-302. 

Unfortunately for this family, using an online form created a Will which did not satisfy the father's wishes. Every person's situation is different and using a "standard" form may result in a document which does not fit the individual's circumstances.  A cautionary tale for all of us.