...Estate planning attorneys also have the training to figure out the best way to minimize taxes while still effecting your intentions and they can give you ideas you never thought about so you may change your intentions as part of the process. I know that we did.
Some parts of the docs prepared are boilerplate or a choice among options. Other parts may be designed for you. But what you need and how to get there is the value added by the estate planner.
That said, if you have minimal assets, don't have prior families, illegitimate children, unusual assets, etc.,etc., etc., and plan to leave your stuff to your spouse, and if your spouse is dead to your kids, then a respected kit may be fine. Keep in mind issues with assets that don't pass through a will, such as joint assets and assets with beneficiary designations. There may be consequences with these assets. Joint account with a child? Can a creditor of your child get the account? Do you know? What about putting your house in a life estate with your kids? What happens if the kids get divorced? Or have financial problems? Do you know?
I also am a lawyer and did not do my own will. There were complications. Taxable estate. No children. Trust for disabled family members, and a few other issues.
Mistakes are costly. And don't forget, the rules change and your situation changes so you need to revisit your estate plan regularly.
i just got done executing a revocable trust package for myself this past spring. i did the ol' download the canned trust form, READ IT, did the basic editing, and then went to an estate attorney.
his fixed fee (yes, we did an upfront contract in writing) was much less because of my prep. i received the whole enchilada - trust, pour over will, transfer of house into trust, living will, HCP, disposition of remains, written funeral arrangments, comprehensive estate tax consultation, beneficiary designation review and mods, alternate trustee and trust protector if i am incapacitated, specific instructions for what to do for my long term living arrangements, etc etc.
i remained hands on from soup to nuts. poor guy!
I am childless, widowed, with reasonable assets, and a few crooked siblings
and no living parents.
there were some sticky issues in the taxable estate domain that i would have never figured out on my own.
there were paragraphs in the boilerplate that needed to go away.
it is YOUR will, and your decision. just keep an open mind. cost should be the least important factor for this one, full legal soundness the highest factor.