Online will service: terms of service

1. Who we are and what we do

Joshi Lawyers Pty Ltd (ABN 76 140 306 654), trading as Joshi Lawyers, is a law practice in Victoria. The online will service is a fixed-fee legal service. We take your instructions through the questions on our website, prepare your will, review it, advise you on it in a consultation and oversee its signing. The service is provided by our lawyers and staff; it is not a do-it-yourself kit.

2. What the service covers

The service is designed for straightforward estates. It covers a will for one person or mirror wills for a couple, appointing an executor (your own or the firm), a guardian for children under 18, specific gifts, the division of the rest of your estate, and the matters set out in the questions. It can also include, if you choose, an enduring power of attorney and an appointment of medical treatment decision maker, and a superannuation nominations guide.

If you tell us on the first screen that your situation has a complication (a blended family, leaving out a spouse or child, business, trust or self-managed superannuation interests, assets overseas, a concern about capacity, or signing from outside Victoria), we still prepare your will through the service and the lawyer reviewing it is told, so the consultation covers those matters. The service does not include testamentary trusts, foreign wills, or other work beyond a will in the form the questions produce. If your instructions need such work we will tell you before the consultation, quote for it, and you may choose to proceed on our usual terms or to withdraw and be refunded as set out below.

3. Our fees

Our fees are fixed and include GST. A will is $499 and mirror wills for a couple are $779. The enduring power of attorney and medical treatment decision maker are $249 for one person or $399 for a couple. The superannuation nominations guide is $99 for one person or $149 for a couple. Each round of changes after the first is $149. The fee for the will includes preparing it, review by a lawyer, one round of changes to the draft, the consultation, the signing and witnessing, and storage of the original in our safe. There are no disbursements. If you ask us to do work outside the service we will quote for it separately before we start.

Payment is taken in full when you submit your instructions, by card through Stripe. The amount is an estimate of the total legal costs for the matter and, because the fee is fixed, it is also the total unless you ask for further rounds of changes or work outside the service.

4. Costs disclosure

This disclosure is made under the Legal Profession Uniform Law as it applies in Victoria. The total legal costs for the service are the fixed fees above. You have the right to negotiate a costs agreement with us, to receive a bill, to request an itemised bill after receiving a lump-sum bill, to be told of any substantial change to the matters disclosed, to seek the assistance of the Victorian Legal Services Commissioner if you have a dispute about costs, and to be notified that you may obtain independent legal advice about these terms. By submitting your instructions and paying, you accept these terms as our costs agreement for the service.

5. How the service works

1. You answer the questions and pay. Your answers are our instructions.
2. We prepare your draft, a lawyer reviews it, and we email you a link to read it, usually within one business day.
3. You confirm the draft or request changes. One round of changes is included. Each further round is $149, payable before the changes are made. A round may include any number of changes, but a change that takes the will outside the service (section 2) will be referred to a consultation instead.
4. When you confirm the draft, you book an online consultation with one of our lawyers. The consultation is where we advise you, answer your questions, confirm the will reflects your intentions, verify your identity and oversee the signing. Until the consultation we have not advised you, and the draft is not a will until it is signed and witnessed.
5. The will is signed and witnessed by audio-visual link under the remote execution procedure in the Wills Act 1997 (Vic), or in person at our office if you prefer. For a video signing you must be in Victoria on the day, alone in a quiet room, with photo identification and a device with a camera.
6. If you choose, the signed original is held in our safe at no charge and you receive a copy, a storage certificate and a card for your executor. You may collect the original at any time.

6. Your responsibilities

Your will is only as good as your instructions. You must give full and accurate answers, use full legal names and current addresses, read the draft carefully, and tell us about anything that changes before signing. You must be at least 18 and must be giving instructions freely and for yourself. If you are helping someone else complete the questions, the will must be theirs, and our lawyer will need to speak with them alone at the consultation.

7. Appointing Joshi Lawyers as executor

If you choose to appoint the firm as your executor, you are told in the questions, before you sign, that you could appoint an executor who does not charge, and how the firm charges your estate if it acts. The will appoints Dinesh Joshi, the firm's principal, with the principal of the firm for the time being as substitute. The firm's charges for administering the estate are paid from the estate under the will's professional charging clause and any commission allowed by the court. You can change your executor at any time before signing, and after signing by making a new will.

8. How we prepare documents

We use document automation and other technology, operated under the supervision of our lawyers, to prepare documents from your instructions and to process your change requests. Every document is reviewed by a lawyer before it is provided to you and before it is signed.

9. Refunds

If we decide that the service does not suit your situation, we refund the fee in full. If you withdraw before your first draft is issued, we refund the fee less $99 for the work done. Once a draft has been issued the fee for the will is not refundable, because the legal work has been done. Fees for an add-on that has not yet been delivered are refunded in full. If a consultation is booked and you do not attend, we will offer one further booking at no charge.

10. Communication and security

We communicate with you by email, using the address you give us, and the link to your draft is personal to you. Please do not forward it. Your answers and documents are encrypted in transit and at rest and are seen only by the lawyers and staff working on your will. Payments are processed by Stripe; we do not see your card details. Our privacy policy explains what we collect and how we handle it.

11. Liability

Liability limited by a scheme approved under professional standards legislation. Nothing in these terms excludes rights you have under the Australian Consumer Law that cannot be excluded.

12. General

These terms are governed by the law of Victoria. We may update them from time to time. The version you accept when you pay applies to your matter. If you have a concern about the service or our costs, please contact Dinesh Joshi, Principal, at inquiries@joshilawyers.com.au or 03 8386 9502. You may also contact the Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner.