Should You Consider an Online Will?

The COVID-19 global pandemic has changed the way we live and work. It is also increasingly forcing us all to have some tough conversations. Among them is the matter of a last will and testament. Do you have one? Do you need one? How do you make one quickly that's legally binding? Can you do it online? Should you?

No one wants to be in the awful position of passing away without having their affairs in order. Likewise, no one wants to burden their survivors with the added worry and stress of trying to figure out your final wishes.

Important: I am not a legal expert, nor will I give you legal advice in this article. What I will do is list some of the advantages and disadvantages of online will services. I'll follow this up with overviews of a few companies that offer online will-making services.

Should You Consider an Online Will?

Note that there are other ways to draw up a will besides using an online service or hiring an attorney. For example, you can write a legally binding will all on your own, as long as the final document meets all the requirements for your area. You can also download or purchase templates of legal documents, including a last will and testament, and fill in the blanks. Office supply stores sometimes sell them for a fairly low cost. For now, let's look at some online options.

Benefits of Making a Will Online

1. Speed

It takes about 15 minutes to draft a simple online will.

2. Cost

Creating a will online can cost anywhere from $0 to about $100. Hiring a lawyer to help you write a simple will with minimal assets costs at least a few hundred dollars, and possibly much more if you have a complex estate.

3. Something Is Better Than Nothing

If you've put off writing a will this long, what are the chances that today is the day you'll call a lawyer to help you? When you use a website, you can create something today. That's far better than nothing. Plus, if you later realize that you need to consult a lawyer, you can use the will you created as a jumping-off point. You might either write a new one or amend and update the existing one with the attorney's guidance.

Disadvantages of Making a Will Online

1. No Attorney Advice

One role of an attorney is to help you think through worst-case scenarios and poke holes in the will's first draft. Did you think of everything that should be in your will? Are you sure? How sure? An experienced estate planning attorney knows what questions to ask to make sure you're fully covered. The more complex your estate, the more important it is to make sure you've filled all your gaps. Part of the service you're paying for is advice. An online form meant to be completed in 15 minutes can only give you so much help.

2. Only One Document

A will is an important document, but it's only one document. An estate planning attorney can help you figure out what other papers you need. What about an advance medical directive, living trust, or financial power of attorney? A good lawyer will advise you on these and other documents (some of which you can also fill out online), even if you wouldn't think to ask for them.

3. Vague Language

To make a form applicable to all US residents, sometimes online services use vague language in the fine print. It helps to choose a service that offers state-specific forms, although you might still encounter vague language, such as a generalized name for a county or state office (in the case of naming an arbiter) that may or may not exist in your jurisdiction.

4. Witnesses, and Sometimes a Notary, Must Seal the Deal

In most cases, you finish an online will by printing it and having at least two witnesses sign it. Some US states may require three witnesses. Depending on where you live, you might need to get it notarized, too. That means you have to find a notary public and pay for their services. You can ask your local bank branch if they have a notary, as the service is sometimes free for customers.

Online Will Services

Below are descriptions of a few services that offer online wills. Next to each name, I've listed the starting price, meaning the lowest price offered by that company for creating a will. In some cases, the fee increases as the complexity of your will increase. Some companies try to sell you extras, too, like additional documents or online storage.

Do Your Own Will (Free)

Do Your Own Will is a free site for making a last will and testament, as well as other documents. In its privacy statement, Do Your Own Will clearly indicates that it shares "non-identifying and aggregate information" about you with advertisers. In other words, the service definitely sells your data. That said, it offers some services that let you skirt the whole data-collection situation. Do Your Own Will has a free resource page with PDF and .docx files of wills and advance care directive templates for all 50 US states. If all you want is a free template, here's where you can get one. Do Your Own Will displays all the questions you must answer before you get started with its service. That means you can decide if the questions ask for more information than what you're willing to share. Additionally, the personal data section contains an option for non-binary people—a nice touch.

LawDepot ($49.95)

LawDepot says it offers free legal documents, although that's not quite true. Your "free" choice for a last will and testament is merely a one-week trial of a plan that later costs $33 per month. LawDepot also sells a $7.99 monthly recurring subscription, but your best bet is to pay $49.95 for a plan that lets you update, print, and otherwise adjust your will for 10 years. It has other estate planning forms, too, plus a range of forms for business use. LawDepot's privacy policy isn't too bad, explicitly mentioning that it uses targeted advertising, while also including links to how you can opt out of it.

LegalZoom (Starting at $89)

LegalZoom helps you create a variety of legal documents, including a last will and testament. Before you get started, you can view a sample will that's specific to your state. You create your will by answering an online questionnaire. LegalZoom says about 70% of people zip through the form in about 15 minutes. In addition to last will and testament forms, the site also offers living wills ($39), financial power of attorney ($35), as well as an estate-planning bundle that includes all three ($179). The bundle costs more than the three parts because it adds unlimited updates to the documents for a year and attorney advice. Watch out, however, as the bundle also comes with a $119.88-per-year subscription fee after the first year.

Quicken WillMaker & Trust from Nolo ($99, for macOS and Windows)

Quicken WillMaker & Trust, sold by Nolo.com, is software that you purchase and download to your computer to help you make a will—and other estate planning documents, too. People who are security cautious might find Quicken WillMaker a better option than other tools, since your answers to all those personal questions required to create a will, such as your name, marital status, and the names of your children, are stored locally, rather than online. Some of the other documents included are a health care directive, durable financial power of attorney, and final arrangements.

Willing (Starting at $69)

Willing.com offers a quick questionnaire to help you draw up a last will and testament, a living will, durable power of attorney document, and revocable living trust for its $69 starting price. If you mark yourself as married when you start the paperwork, Willing asks if you want to double up and have your spouse write a will, too. You go through all the steps of creating and reviewing the papers, and then hit a payment page before you can print them. It's here that you'll find upsells, such as homeowner protections (passing on your property without court fees), totaling as much as $399.

Difficult Conversations

Writing a will can be stressful. It also brings up more tough conversations. You have to name an executor in your will, for example, meaning a person who is tasked with carrying out your last wishes. You'll probably want to have a conversation with that person and make sure they agree to those duties.

If you have underage children, you'll need to have serious conversations with the people you appoint as their caretaker. If you jointly own property with someone else, you might already have a standing legal agreement from the time you purchased the property dictating what will happen if one of the owners dies. Be sure to review what you've already declared. The same goes for beneficiaries of your financial accounts. Now's a good time to check those, too.

Don't Put It Off

There's more than one way to get your affairs in order, whether you use an online service, work off a template, write your own will, or hire a lawyer. There are many more services than the ones mentioned here, including Trust & Will, Fabric (which specializes in wills for couples with young children), US Legal Wills, Rocket Lawyer, Tomorrow.me, Gentreo, LegalNature, and Total Legal.

The important thing is to do some amount of estate planning now, while it's on your mind, and follow through with the final steps to make the document binding. Print it, find witnesses to watch you sign it, then have those witnesses sign, too. Make sure you give the will or a copy of it to someone you trust or put it in a safe place where someone you trust knows where to find it.

For more on the subject of planning for the worst, please read PCMag's story on how to prepare your digital life for your death. 

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