Not surprisingly, I am not a fan of fill-in-the-blank wills and other estate planning documents that can be purchased from many office supply stores or online.  It’s not the terms and provisions of these documents that bother me—they’re often quite adequate for straightforward situations.  Rather, canned documents do not do a good job of helping the consumer know what the terms and provisions mean, how they will apply in his or her situation, and how to accurately fill in the blanks.  Buyer beware!  And when we’re talking about your Last Will and Testament, there may not be a second chance. 

All of my concerns are proven in a recent Palm Beach County, Florida case:  Parjares v. Donahue.  This case deals with the fill-in-the-blank will made by Olga Kuhnreich and whether it caused Olga to lose the homestead protection on her house when she died.  Usually, when a person dies, his or her homestead is still protected against the claims of creditors against the decedent’s estate.  Unfortunately, Olga’s homestead lost that protection because of the way she filled in the blanks in her will.

The Court looked at the section of Olga’s fill-in-the-blank will entitled “Specific Bequests of Real and/or Personal Property.”  In that section, Olga had written “from the sale of” her homestead, 5 people should receive specific bequests.  Under Florida law, when a person’s will calls for his or her homestead to be sold and the proceeds divided, the homestead loses its protection from creditors’ claims against the estate.  Did Olga know that?  Probably not; how could she.  And her fill-in-the-blank will didn’t tell her about that specific point of Florida law.  As a result, Olga made a mistake in how she filled in the blanks in her will, and her mistake cost her estate and beneficiaries.  The Court held that Olga’s will was clear that she wanted her homestead sold, even though it meant losing the homestead protection.

 Olga Kuhnreich should have hired an attorney to prepare her will.  Not because Olga’s life was complicated, but rather because Florida law is complicated.  Moreover, Olga didn’t get a second chance to fix her will.  The same might be true about you.