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Which is the Best Online Will Creator?

We’ve put this off for far too long, ya’ll.

We’re grown adults with assets, debt, and even a child – so what are we doing wandering around in the world without a will?

We have life insurance, a house, cars, and more, so I’m setting out to find the best online will creator!

We have a child, a car, a house - and plenty of debt to go along with it? Why, oh why don't we have a will? I'm exploring the best online will creator!

What does “best’ mean?

I suppose “best” is a relative term, depending on what you want in a will-creating service.  Do you want a brick-and mortar attorney’s office, or do you prefer online methods?  Are you looking for something complex or basic?  Regardless of your preferences or needs, I’ve rounded up the best, most affordable, most dependable will-creation options based on the following criteria:

  • BBB Rating
  • How Well Known?
  • Scope of Services
  • Cost
  • Reliability

Rocket Lawyer

Rocket lawyer was founded in 2008 and has since taken off!  When it was created, it met a need among business owners – lower cost legal services!  With Rocket Lawyer, as opposed to “hundreds-of-dollars-an-hour billing” you get a sort of pre-paid or subscription service – and the cost is much, much lower than a physical attorney would be.

  • BBB Rating: A (You can read the full BBB review here)
  • How Well Known? One of the most well-known sites (only slight less known than LegalZoom) their site is easy to use use!
  • Scope of Services:  Rocket Lawyer specialized in three main things, although their entire scope of services is much larger: Creating Legal Documents, Connecting Subscribers to Lawyers to answer questions, and Incorporation’s.
  • Legal Documents:
    • Eviction Notices
    • 3-Day Pay or Quit Notices
    • Power of Attorney
    • Wills
    • Trusts
    • Affidavits
    • Domestic Partnership Agreement
    • Travel Consent Form
    • Nanny Agreement
    • Marriage Separation Agreement
    • Response to IRS Notice
    • Government Letters
    • Simple Lease Agreement
    • Security Deposit Refund Letter
    • Renter’s Inspection Worksheet
    • Move-In Letter
    • Rent Receipt
    • Bill of Sale
    • Secured Promissory Note
    • Real Estate Deeds
    • Plus Many More!
  • For the purposes of this review, I’m going to skip over the other two main service areas that Rocket Lawyer specializes in, but if you would like more information you can find it here.  When I set up my will, the process couldn’t have been easier.  I simply entered the information that they requested, and within minutes I had a working will
  • Reliability: Wills are tailored to your state requirements as well as your specific family needs, leaving me wanting for nothing!
  • Cost: RocketLawyer offers their users a 1-week free trial, because they know how awesome their product it.  After the free trials, RocketLawyer costs $39.95 per month.

The Bottom Line:

If you’re just doing your will, I would sign up for the free trial, create your will, and then cancel before you’re charged!  Also, Rocket Lawyer has provided me with a free estate planning guide that you can download here, to help you make informed choices when creating your will.

 

Law Depot

Generally speaking, you can save 85% off the cost of an attorney by using Law Depot!

  • BBB Rating: A+ (You can read the full BBB review here)
  • How Well Known?  While Law Depot does not have the brand visibility of RocketLawyer or LegalZoom, they’re highly respected.  In fact, Law Depot is so easy to use that it was ranked 2nd by Top Ten Reviews.
  • Scope of Services: Law Depot offers a large range of services, including Estate, Real Estate, Financial, Business, Family and more topics.  While I could list eveything here, suffice to say that their scope of services rivals that of Rocket Lawyer.  Law Depot’s forms are the easiest to use, that I’ve found.  The questions are worded simply, and during each step of the process you can view your will.
  • Cost: An account is free on Law Depot (you can sign up here) but once you actually create a document, the site will take you to pricing options.  The most basic option will run you $7.99 per month – and that includes as many legal documents as you need.  However, you can try Law Depot free for 1 week.  With the free trial, you can cancel anytime, and can print as many documents as you need.
  • Reliability: Law Depot is backed by their a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee as well as a $10,000 Legal Guarantee.  You can read more about those here, but as long as you’re not running an international corporation from forms made on Law Depot, you should be fine.

The bottom line:

If you want a tool that’s free (or low – cost) and makes answering the questions necessary to fill out your will easy, then Law Depot is the way to go!  Even if you were like me (on the fence) I would still go check out their services.  My recommendation: sign up for the free trial, create your will, and then cancel!


LegalZoom.com

  • BBB Rating: A+ (You can read the full BBB review here)
  • How Well Known? LegalZoom.com was founded by Robert Shapiro, which means that his reputation was on the line with this business.  However, this also means that LegalZoom Gained popularity very quickly.
  • Scope of Services: LegalZoom.com offers a scope of services that is unmatched by any other online attorney service.  Their list matches up with RocketLawyer’s :-)
  • Cost: Prices vary by which services you need, but for a Last Will & Testament, you’re looking at $69.00 for the basic document, ro $79 for a comprehensive document that provides 30 days of attorney support via phone, an annual legal checkup with an attorney, unlimited revisions to your will, as well as unlimited access to LegalZoom forms and documents.
  • Reliability:  Not only is LegalZoom backed by Robert Shapiro’s name, all services rendered come with their 100% satisfaction guarantee.

The bottom line:

Pricey, but worth it if you’re going to be doing a lot of legal paperwork.

There are tons of other online will creation services out there, and if I was to try and name them all I would go crazy!  However, what I’ve tried to do is grab a few of the best, that have a large scope of services, and present them to you in the most unbiased way possible.

What about you?  Did you create your will online?  How was your experience?

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Comments

  2. I actually needed this! We still don’t have a will and I was going to get to work on one over the Christmas break. I’ll have to bookmark your article and remember to come back to it when I’m picking out the right service.

    Reply

  3. We finally cracked down and set up a will and trust. We’ve been talking about it for five years since our daughter was born. We finally decided we wouldn’t go on any more vacations until we got it done so that forced our hand. With the progression of our finances over the last five years it made sense to go the trust route as well. It was so nice to get it done and have that in place. We hope to not use it for a long time but it’s always good to be prepared.

    Reply

  4. I created my will using Law Depot and it was exactly what I needed. If you’re using an online service to create your will (and other legal documents), check to find out exactly what is needed to sign them legally in your state (witnesses, notarization, etc.). It does you no good to have all the important documents only to find out when it’s too late that they were never legally binding!

    Reply

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