That $200 legal zoom will was a disaster waiting to happen

My buddy bragged about saving money with one of those online will kits. I was all for it until his landlord found the thing and it had the wrong notary signature line. The court clerk in Cook County literally laughed when I asked about filing it. Turns out Illinois has specific rules about witness signatures that the template ignored completely. Cost him $800 to fix it with a real lawyer in Wicker Park. Anyone else run into fake savings with those DIY legal sites?

3 comments

3 Comments

olivia_white9325d ago

Yeah but the thing nobody mentions is how these templates handle stuff like debts or property you still owe on. My buddy's online will just said "all personal property" without realizing his truck had a lien through a credit union in Cicero. That little line alone caused a two month headache where the beneficiary couldn't sell it clean until some probate paperwork got sorted. The form was too generic to even ask if there were outstanding loans tied to anything. They just assume your stuff is all paid off and sitting pretty, which is laughable in real life.

tessaperry25d ago

My cousin did a LegalZoom will back in 2019 and had the exact same notary mess in DuPage County. I ended up sitting him down with a paralegal friend who charged us $150 flat to handwrite the whole thing on proper Illinois forms. Bought him peace of mind for way less than a full lawyer would have cost.

maxl9325d agoMost Upvoted

Is it just me or does this kind of stuff happen way more often with these online legal services? I've heard so many stories where people think they're saving money but end up with a headache over some tiny technicality like notary dates or weird state specific wording. It's like they're built for a perfect world where nothing goes wrong, but real life is full of little rule quirks. Meanwhile, a local paralegal who knows the county clerks by name can spot issues from a mile away. That $150 probably paid for itself in stress avoidance alone.