Question:
I am a 28-year-old female and would like to make a will.

Do I need to make use of a lawyer or is this a document that I can draw up myself?

Answer:
You can draw up a will yourself as long as your estate is relatively simple. If you have a business, trusts or anything that might complicate matters it would be best to hire a lawyer to help.

Your bank has a trust and will division and they'll help you draw up a testament for free if you nominate them as your executors. They will, however, charge 3.5 percent of the total assets as a fee to do this in the event of your death.

There is one caveat, though. If your estate is worth very little when you die they may refuse to wind it up, because they will get very little out of it.

If you do a search on Google under 'wills templates' you can copy one from a website and modify it for your own purposes. You can also get one from CNA.

Type 'wills' in the search field of the personal finance homepage to search the archives and you will find more information on how to draw up a will.