I was sitting at the same oak kitchen table where I found my father on a Sunday morning three years ago, staring at a stack of manila folders that felt like they were judging me. It was one of those humid Saturday mornings in July where the air in suburban Indianapolis feels like a wet wool blanket. I had my three-ring binder open to the section labeled 'My Papers,' and I realized that my own 'final' document was already a relic. My brother had just closed on a house in Fishers, and the specific bequest I’d written for him eighteen months ago—tied to his old apartment—was now legally nonsensical. I needed to update things, and fast.
Before we get into the weeds of paperwork, a quick heads-up: I earn a commission if you sign up through the links on this page, which happens at no extra cost to you. I have personally used these tools to sort out my family’s messy filing cabinet and final plans since 2023. This income helps me keep testing new platforms so I can tell you what actually works at a kitchen table without a law degree.
Why a Codicil Feels Like an Errata Slip
In the library world, when a book has a mistake but it is too expensive to reprint the whole thing, we slip in an errata slip—a tiny piece of paper that says, 'Hey, page 42 is wrong, read this instead.' In the legal world, that is a codicil. It is a secondary document meant to patch an existing will without throwing the whole thing in the shredder. It sounds efficient, like a quick fix you can do over coffee.
But here is the thing I learned while rebuilding my mother’s filing system: codicils are the loose-leaf pages of the estate world. They get lost. They get separated from the main document. Most importantly, they can create contradictions that turn a simple probate process into a headache for your kids. When I looked at my brother's situation, I realized that adding a 'patch' to my will felt as messy as taping a correction over a call number in the reference stack. It is much cleaner to just print a new edition.
The Snowy Evening and the Codicil Trap
One snowy evening last February, I actually tried to draft a standalone codicil using a random form I found. I was determined to just 'add a paragraph' and be done with it. I was halfway through typing out the legal description of my brother's new property when I shifted my weight, and I heard the specific sharp 'clack' of my laptop charger hitting the linoleum floor. The battery was shot, the screen went black, and because I was working on a web-based form without an auto-save, I lost twenty minutes of work. It was the universe telling me to stop being cheap with my time.
That was when I went back to WillMaker. I’d already used it to build the original will, and I realized the software is designed for 49 states—everywhere except Louisiana—and it handles updates far better than a manual addendum. Instead of making me figure out how to phrase a codicil, it just let me update the information in the interview and generate a brand-new, clean will that revoked the old one. This is the 'circulation-desk' approach: instead of patching a torn page, you just pull the old copy and put a fresh, updated one on the shelf.
Why WillMaker Makes the 'Clean Copy' Easier
The beauty of the WillMaker Plus package is that it includes about 35 different documents. It isn't just the will; it is the healthcare directive, the power of attorney, and even a letter-to-survivors template that I used to explain why I was changing the house distribution to my brother. When I went back into the software this past April, during the spring thaw, the beneficiary worksheet actually flagged a mistake I hadn't noticed. I had listed a specific bank account for my niece, but I hadn't named a contingent beneficiary. If something had happened to her, that money would have tumbled into the general estate, potentially triggering the kind of court hearing a 'self-proving clause' is supposed to avoid.
I realized then that a manual codicil would have never caught that. You can find random forms on LawDepot for things like a residential lease for a basement tenant or a contractor agreement for a kitchen reno—and I’ve used them for both—but for the 'big' stuff, you want the software that cross-references your whole life. WillMaker’s interview format feels like a reference interview at the library: it keeps asking 'What about this?' until you’ve covered the bases you didn't even know existed.
If you are still navigating the basics of what you need, you might find my look at the Best Online Will Software for DIY Planning at Your Kitchen Table helpful for seeing how these tools stack up when you're starting from scratch.
The Witness Table: Indiana’s Rules of the Road
One thing that trips people up when they try to 'add a codicil' is the execution. In Indiana, a codicil has to be signed and witnessed with the exact same formality as the original will. You can't just scribble a note and sign it. Under Indiana Code 29-1-5-3, you need at least 2 witnesses to watch you sign, and they have to sign in your presence. Also, Indiana is one of the states that does not recognize holographic wills—those are the 'handwritten on a napkin' versions you see in movies.
This is why I advocate for just printing a whole new will. If you have to get two neighbors to come over for coffee and sign papers anyway, why hand them a two-page 'patch' and a ten-page 'original'? It’s much easier to hand them a fresh, crisp ten-page document and say, 'This is my will.' It saves your executors from having to keep track of multiple documents that might conflict. For a deeper dive into how this works locally, I wrote about The Kitchen Table Will: How I Navigated Indiana Estate Planning After My Father Passed.
When the Bank Teller Squints at Your Margins
Execution is where the 'DIY' part gets real. I remember the sudden heat in my face when the bank teller squinted at my home-printed self-proving clause, questioning the margins. I was there to get a different form notarized, and she looked at my WillMaker-generated document like it was a counterfeit bill. In Indiana, you don't actually need a notary for a will to be valid, but you *do* want that self-proving clause—the page that saves your kids from having to drag your witnesses into a courtroom years later to prove they actually saw you sign.
The teller wasn't used to the way WillMaker formats the Indiana-specific language, which doesn't require a notary seal on the will itself if the witnesses sign the right affidavit. I had to calmly explain—in my best librarian 'please lower your voice' tone—that the software adjusts the language for our state's specific statutes. Eventually, she called over a supervisor who nodded and said it was fine, but that moment of friction reminded me why accuracy matters. If the margins are off or the language looks 'off-brand' to a clerk, it causes delays. WillMaker’s documents look professional because they are based on the same templates lawyers use, which is why I’d rather trust their 'new will' output than my own attempt at a codicil.
The Librarian’s Final Filing
By the time the humid July morning turned into a rainy afternoon, I had my updated documents printed. I didn't use a codicil. I used WillMaker to generate a fresh, 35-page packet that included my updated will, an advance directive, and a new power of attorney. I put the old version in the shredder—which felt surprisingly cathartic—and filed the new, crisp pages into the accordion folder.
I’m not an attorney, and I don’t have a paralegal certificate hanging next to my library science degree. If your estate is over $500,000, if you have a blended family with complicated step-children issues, or if you are dealing with special-needs trusts, you should absolutely take your WillMaker draft to a local lawyer for a review. But for those of us with a house, a car, and a brother who finally moved out of his apartment, doing this at the kitchen table is a valid way to save a four-figure legal bill.
I'm obviously not a financial advisor, so talk to a professional before you make any major moves with your assets. But for the paperwork? The right software is like having the best search engine in the world for your own life. It catches the errors before they become your family's problem. Now, if I could just find a software that prevents me from dropping my laptop charger on the linoleum, I’d be set.
If you're ready to stop patching your old documents and finally get a clean version of your estate plan on the shelf, you can check out WillMaker here and start the process today.