May 29, 2014. Though I am a little late, I thought I would offer up an obligatory "Wal-Mart is offering Wills" post. So here it is; Wal-Mart is offering Wills. At least in Toronto. So what does Wal-Mart offering Wills mean? The idea being that you can stop in, no appointment, and for $99 leave with a basic Will. This is not the only service offered by the on-site office, which also tackles other easily expedited services such as notarization and has aspirations of handling no-contest divorces. Financially and unabashedly, the system works because of the high-volume foot traffic generated by the superstore.
My instinct to the emerging practice is to shrug. Though an estate planner, I don’t have that instinctual hostility towards some object that others, I believe, perceive as infringing upon job security and easy meals. The heart of my indifference is there is a lot more to being an estate planner than a document drafter. It is a little melodramatic and maudlin to say as much, but still true. Even simple Wills, done right and with the client in mind, can quickly become complicated and involved and require some care crafting. And this chain of legal services is only offering the simplest of services, the simplest of Wills. As a bulk product, customization will be limited. It has to be. Which makes me think something else is being offered. Though I lack any numbers, which does not stop me from offering my opinion, my guess is most Wills drawn up there follow a basic pattern: First to spouse, then to children. I don’t know quite how the law plays out in Canada, but the arrangement is likely not altogether different from dying intestate (aka, without a Will). What is the value of the service, then? I think it is for people who can’t go in to a lawyer’s office and afford the fee. It offers them peace of mind of putting things in order; of ensuring something passes on to the next generation, even though in reality there would not be a measurable difference from them dying without a Will. There is value to the psychological benefit of the service, and maybe that value is $99.
To be clear, and as a token disclaimer, I don’t think the drive-by process is equipped to ferret out the issues that a good planner knows to locate, or has the time to anticipate future complications. But, at least, there is a lawyer on the other end of the table which should at least sidestep the issues that come with the phenomena of filing in the blanks on something you downloaded online, which in my experience of looking over estate plans, can get weird.
The more interesting question for me about this whole aberration is not the Wills being offered, but rather the commentary on the legal job market. While I have no doubt it is lucrative for the founding partners, I wonder if the overabundance of new attorneys in recent years compounded by a tighter job market has created a labor pool that makes this type of product financially feasible.
For more information regarding estate planning and questions about what Wal-Mart offering Wills means, contact the Goosmann Trust Law Counsel at info@goosmannlaw.com or call 712-226-4000.
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