I purchased Quicken Willmaker 2010 only because I read in several sources that Willmaker includes features for creating Living Trust and AB Trust. I decided to pay more money to get the latest version (2010). Imagine my disappointment when I found that in version 2010 Intuit removed all features for creating Living Trusts! Not they decided to charge more than hundred bucks online for a simple trust document. Finally I bought the older Quicken Willmaker 2009 and yep, now I can create trust documents.
Intuit already has bad reputation for forcing people to upgrade, removing some features, making new products more complex because of continually rewriting their product to justify selling new upgrades every year. But this dirty move with Quicken Willmaker was the last straw. I fail to understand why would anyone introduce a newer version of a commercial product only to provide less value and to sell online services for 3x more money!

I ordered my copy before reading the other reviews here, assuming that the content was at least as good as the 2009 edition. I plan to update our wills and also make a shared living trust - I can't do the trust with this crippled version.

Do NOT buy WillMaker Plus 2010 if you have plan to make a trust. What a disappointment!!!!. I emailed Nolo and told them I was ready to abandon Quicken, I feel so badly about their deceptive marketing.

EDIT: I received an email from Nolo - "The package was just getting too big and unmanageable and we chose to focus on the most popular item. The combined package had to include a lot of information about trusts, which are more complicated than wills, and it's more than most people want. Plus, it wasn't obvious from the product name (Willmaker Plus) that the package even contained a living trust. So, people looking for a trust might not have known Willmaker included one, and people just looking for a will got more than they wanted. It's not that people don't need living trusts. But it's certainly true that many more people want a will than want a living trust. With two separate packages, our messaging can be clearer and simpler. Our internal updating process can also be simpler."

This sounds like an excuse to provide less for more, not a sound business model! Most reviews of previous versions (and some of the current version!!!) indicate that Willmaker covers trusts, so anyone searching for this product would naturally assume they are still there in 2010.

I obtained Willmaker 2009 to get the trusts.... I still have the 2010 version installed, so I will do my wills with that version.

John Davies
Spokane WA

I wish I had read the earlier review before purchasing this product.

I assumed the 2010 version would have AT LEAST the same features as the 2009 version. The complete removal of trusts is a deal-breaker for me.

I am VERY disappointed with this product.

I have been recommending Willmaker Plus for years to friends and clients needing basic estate documents. Now, I'll need to carefully investigate every new version of every Quicken product to be sure they haven't quietly removed key features. For someone just needing a will, health care directive, and financial power of attorney, the product is probably as good as ever, which is excellent. For someone planning to make a living trust, make sure to buy version 9, not 10, because they have removed this feature while designing their product box, description, and advertising without any mention of the fact. That there are now some suspicious 5-star ratings from brand new reviewers only serves to lower their credibility even more.

Living trusts are important probate avoidance tools for those owning real estate and useful for those who might become incapacitated in the future and want an easy transfer of management, and many people have bought this product for these purposes in the past: I know several such people. Transfer of death registration does not offer the ability to transfer management before death, and isn't available for certain important assets.

Apparently, they plan to come out with a Living Trust Maker in the future, but it isn't available now, and even it won't have the same features as the living trust module in version 9, since it will be missing the AB Trust. Make sure you are aware of THAT removal before buying the new product when it comes out.

Let the buyer beware. I hate to issue a 1-star rating on a product which, for the reduced functions it provides, is probably as good as ever, but if you buy version 10 of a product and find, after purchase, that it does less than version 9, you'll be as angry as the other 1-star posters on this product. Quicken, just be honest and label this product Quicken Willmaker Plus BASIC, or in some other way not create the impression of a continuation of a product. And since you know quite well previous users will assume the continued presence of the living trust module, make sure they know that upgrading is actually a downgrade.

This is a really bad app. I will tell you why.

The WillMaker comes with webupdate. You know, to fix bugs, just like TurboTax. But you cannot download the update yourself. You have to use the program to update itself.

The problem: update is pulled soon after the end of each year. Your "support" has ended.

If you uninstalled previous years' WillMaker, you are screwed because the webupdate will fail and you can no longer open the old documents created with updated WillMaker. Newer WillMaker will not import documents from prior year. Joy!

I have purchased "Willmaker" every year since 2004. Every freaking year. I only use it for drafting living trusts. I purchased the 2010 version when it came out without closely inspecting the box. I just discovered that it no longer includes the living trust documents. I consider that a rip off -- there should be something on the box to call attention to the fact that the basic features of the former product have changed. I read Nolo's response that "Willmaker" was a misnomer and that they wanted to split the product into two products." One slight problem -- no one who owns a home should be making a will -- anyone who owns a home or has any assets should be doing a living trust. This product is completely useless for anyone having any assets. Oh, Nolo --- "Willmaker" has become synonymous with living trust software - hardly anyone uses it for wills. Kind of like "Chevrolet" is synonymous with "car having an engine." I want to see Chevy sell a car without an engine and then say, oops, so sad, gotta buy the engine separately. Buncha crooks - what goes around comes around, Nolo and Intuit.....

Not sure why Amazon says the Premium version won't be released until Jan. 18. I bought it at Costco a couple of weeks ago. Shop for price before you buy.
This is definitely the version to get; it's got everything you need for estate planning, including living trust. The making of a Will is even easier than it has been in prior version. There are all sorts of PDF books available to learn from. There are also dozens of forms which will suit your needs for routine legal matters outside of estate planning. You should plan to buy a new version every year, but that's understandable due to the constantly-shifting nature of our legal environment.

I strongly advise AGAINST purchasing Quicken Willmaker Plus 2010 because it does NOT allow for a basic and very important OPTION of choosing a PER STIRPES distribution of assets for contingent beneficiaries.

Most on-line Willmakers offer this option and even help a purchaser know what PER STIRPES means and how to set it up, but Quicken Willmaker Plus 2010 does NOT explain or offer the PER STIRPES option.

The PER STIRPES option typically protects grandchildren in case an adult child beneficiary dies BEFORE the person making the Will dies AND the person making the Will does NOT have the capacity (e.g., having Alzheimer's) or time to write a new Will each time a grandchild is born.

If this sounds complicated, let me please walk you through an example.

Most peole want their children to be beneficiaries of their estate, and if one of the adult children dies before the person making the Will, most people want the portion, that would have been inherited by the deceased child, to pass to that adult child's children (i.e., the grandchildren).

So, let's say you had four adult children, and you wanted each to receive one-fourth of your estate. If one of the adult children died before you, you would probably want that child's one-fourth benefit to be distributed to that adult child's children. With a PER STIRPES option, this would be EASY to accomplish even if more grandchildren are born after the Will was made.

But, this option is NOT available with Quicken Willmaker Plus 2010. Instead, Quicken requires you to SPECIFICALLY NAME EACH of the grandchildren as contingent beneficiaries and to prepare a NEW WILL EACH TIME you have additional grandchildren.

When I questioned NOLO about this problem, it was their position that a new Will MUST be written each time a new grandchild is added to the family. Not true! That position may help NOLO sell more software, but NOLO's approach has a fatal flaw. That is, the person writing the Will may not always have the legal capacity (e.g., having Alzheimer's) to write a new will when a new grandchild comes into the family. Simply having the PER STIRPES option would completely resolve this problem.

NOLO has NOT provided a reasonable solution because a Will should be able to accomplish the testator's goals through REASONABLE LIFE EVENTS such as the birth of a new grandchild if a person making could loses legal capacity to make a new Will.

I would discourage anyone from buying this product until Quicken adds the PER STIRPES option for contingent beneficiaries.

The Wall Street Journal has recently rated several on-line Will programs, such as Legacy Writer, and ALL of the rated programs include the normal PER STIRPES option. I would encourage readers to look for other options until NOLO provides a reasonable product.

In speaking with NOLO, they have assured me that I can return the program for a full refund, and I have sent it back to them today with the required receipt from Amazon and my explanation of the problem. I am confident that they will quickly honor their money back guarantee, but I will post if there are unusual delays.

Please take your time and find the software that can do everything reasonable that you need.

When I am looking at a new product on Amazon, I usually start with the one star rating and see if the concerns are reasonable so I hope that you find this explanation helpful.

I purchased the 2009 Willmaker Plus October 6 after seeing the first two 1 Star ratings on the 2010 Version(My thanks to KM and SteveD for pointing out that the Trust functionality had been disabled with the 2010 version). Now on October 15, I see that obviously 4 Quicken employees have added 5 Star ratings for the 2010 product (I surmise that they are Quicken employees because three have rated no other products and one has reviewed three Quicken products). So don't be fooled.

I have been using WillMaker since 2006 I believe. I've found quite a few documents that have come in very handy over the years. I'm not ready to create a trust for my family and assets and tada! 2010 doesn't contain ANY trust documents. Very disappointing since it's the same price as years past but has less info.