Your Land, Your Decision: Will-in-a-Box (Do-It-Yourself Indial Will)
Montana Legal Services Association (MLSA) has a do-it-yourself will for Native Americans!
MLSA partnered with the Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF) to develop a free online program Native Americans can use to write their own Indian
Will. The "Will-in-a-Box, a Do-It-Yourself Indian Will" asks several questions upfront to help you make sure it's right for you. Then the
program walks you through helpful legal terms to know when writing a Will.
After that, you answer questions about whom you want to give your personal property
(vehicles, furniture, and family heirlooms), real property (homes), and Indian trust
lands. After you answer all questions, you can download a completed Will. The Will
is not valid until it is properly signed in front of two witnesses and a notary public.
The witnesses cannot be family members or individuals named in the Will.
An MLSA attorney has reviewed and approved the Will-in-a-Box. Before you sign it,
MLSA still recommends you have an attorney look over your completed Will to make sure
it accurately reflects your wishes and protects your interests. MLSA recommends you
reach out for advice from an attorney if you have any questions when completing the
Will. MLSA provides free legal help on Wills for Native Americans to eligible clients.
The Will-in-a-Box may not be right for everybody. Some may not feel comfortable writing
a Will online. While the Will-in-a-Box can create legally valid Wills, it can also
serve as a helpful teaching tool for people curious about writing a Will. It might
be a good first step before looking for other options. MLSA strongly advises that
if you create an Indian Will using the program, and if you do not plan on signing
it, destroy the will so that it doesn't cause confusion later on.
You can find more information and a link to the Will-in-a-Box here:
https://www.montanalawhelp.org/resource/indian-will-in-a-box
If you try out the Will-in-a-Box, MLSA would appreciate hearing what you think. Click on button below: