The Best Living Trust Services

Sunday, March 7th

2021 Living Trust Service Reviews

Legal Zoom

• Cost: Starting from $249

Many of us are familiar with LegalZoom from their commercials. They are a big name in the world of do-it-yourself legal documents, and have built an excellent reputation serving customers who are looking for expertise and guidance without the cost of an expensive lawyer. LegalZoom holds an impressive A+ Better Business Bureau rating.

With LegalZoom'[s assistance, we were able to create a Living Trust, from the convenience of our home and without expensive lawyer fees. The questions asked during the process of creating a living trust were easy to understand. For those people that need additional clarification or have questions, additional information is easily accessible.

Another bonus of working with LegalZoom is that a lawyer will review your finalized document prior to sending the final version back to you. Very few living trust services offer this ability. It clearly provides the piece of mind that many people want when creating their own DIY legal documents.

The price of preparing a living trust is a little more expensive at LegalZoom, but that takes into account the cost of having a professionally trained lawyer review each document:

• Basic - $249. This gives you a personalized living trust, based on your responses to their in-depth questionnaire. You also receive state specific requirements, joint and individual trusts, the option to name guardians for children, and more.
• Comprehensive - $269. This includes expedited servicing, an email copy, and a 30 day trial to their Legal Advantage Plus program.

All of the legal documents purchased at LegalZoom include their $50,000 guarantee should they have made a mistake. This gives yet another peace of mind that your living trust will be created professionally and accurately.

While some people may opt for a cheaper solution, LegalZoom delivers a complete living trust at a price far below that of a traditional lawyer. Combined with their guarantee, attorney review, and thoroughness, LegalZoom earns our highest rating when it comes to creating a living trust.

Rocket Lawyer

• Cost: $39.95 per month

Rocket Lawyer is a very professional website that provides assistance with creating a number of legal documents such as living trusts, living wills, power of attorney and more. It is also a membership based company that has helped individuals and businesses create a number of DIY legal documents. The company currently holds an A rating with the Better Business Bureau.

Creating a Living Trust is simple at Rocket Lawyer. Users may start by answering several questions related to their assets, how they'd like them disseminated and who will be in charge of the process. Throughout the process, the website tells the user how far along they are in the process until completed. The last step is printing and signing the living trust which will be available online for 30 days upon completion.

Rocket Lawyer is a membership based legal documents website which means that customers have access to create a wide selection of legal documents as needed for the period of time they so choose. The Rocket Lawyer website allows customers to peruse their legal documents and begin the step-by-step question and answer process to complete the documents.

Membership options include:

• Free one week trial. This includes access to create and print an unlimited number of documents during the one week trial.
• Monthly membership. Their is a $39.95 per month charge with no mandatory contract terms.
• Annual Legal Plan. Create as many legal documents as needed, in the course of one year, but save by paying for an entire year up-front.

Monthly or annual membership with Rocket Lawyer also includes unlimited legal documents, a personal legal assistant at Rocket Lawyer for questions, free consultations and discounts from participating local lawyers if and when further assistance is needed.

Rocket Lawyer provides a well designed, easy to use website that is geared toward the average user. You don't have to be experienced to create accurate and thorough legal documents when you have Rocket Lawyer on your side. This company ranked high and is a solid choice for help creating a living trust at an affordable price.

Find Legal Forms

• Cost: From $19.95 to $39.95

Find Legal Forms has been in business for more than 10 years and provides a long list of document options for a variety of almost legal matters. Shoppers can create a living trust, living will, power of attorney, estate planning and more for a fraction of the cost of some of the companies reviewed. Find Legal Forms holds an A+ Better Business Bureau rating.

This no frills website is void of much of the explanation and customer friendliness that we found elsewhere. However, it's still professional and does the trick. What we noticed is that Find Legal Forms first requires you purchase their product before trying it out. So if you're having trouble completing the process and answering the questions you can't walk away without already have invested in the effort. We also noticed that the prices are very affordable. A living trust can be purchased for as little as $19.95 for a single person with no children.

Shoppers will first choose their desired form, the state in which they reside and then complete the purchase. Once the transaction is complete, the shopper receives a State specific editable, basic living trust will that is available in .doc, .wpd or .rtf formats. All Find Legal Forms are compatible with Windows, Max OS X or Linux. All forms also come with a free option for an electronic signature if you're needing yourself or others to sign in a hurry. At Find Legal Forms you may download their forms within 48 hours of purchase and use multiple times or as needed. They also come with a 60 day money back guarantee.

All forms available at this website have been reviewed by their attorneys, before purchase but not after the customer creates. Overall, we appreciate that Find Legal Forms offers some of the most affordable living will documentation available anywhere. Without much hand holding, Find Legal Forms is probably a better fit for someone that is both confident and, at least, marginally familiar with legal jargon and a living trust.

US Legal Forms

• Cost: From $39.95 to $49.95

US Legal Forms, as the name suggests, is an online provider of a staggering number of do-it-yourself legal forms. With US Legal Forms a consumer can purchase and complete legal forms of all kinds, from landlord/tenant agreements to divorce paperwork, to human resources documents for business and many others. This review will focus on the living trust product.

The US Legal Forms website is well organized and easy to navigate. The main page features a large rotating advertisement highlighting the various categories of legal forms that can be purchased. One says "Start a Business" and lists a few forms that someone would need to form an LLC or incorporate, the next says "Protect your Family" and displays all the documents for wills, trusts and power of attorney. Under that is a very clear breakdown of the available form by category. It is very easy to spot the Estate Planning section and you can see the living trust subcategory right under this main heading. It's a breeze to find whatever you need with this organized system, particularly with the hundreds of different forms that are offered.

The living trust page is basic, but also well organized and makes it easy to find what you are looking for. We like the section in the middle where you can select your form based on the state you live in. Various states have different regulations when it comes to creating a legal living trust, and the ability to select by state saves time sorting through to determine which form you need. There is a brief overview explaining what a living trust is, and a detailed FAQ page answering some common questions about living trusts.

Additionally there are some helpful links to additional topics like why living trusts are not only for the rich, and a section on estate planning lessons. There is really a surprisingly good amount of information here, we just wish the website would have highlighted it more clearly as a learning section. If you aren't looking for this information you might miss it.

The product itself is $39.95 for a downloadable form with instructions on how to complete the living will, or $49.95 for a hard copy form that is mailed to the customer. This is a decent price, but you have to make the purchase and receive the kit before you can see if the instructions are intuitive or confusing. We prefer an online product that guides you through the process of completing the living trust as you go, rather than just a downloaded form and a static instruction manual. Apart from this complaint, US Legal Forms living trust product is a decent value for the money.

Nolo

• Cost: $59.95 one-time fee

Nolo is a do-it-yourself legal website that offers consumers a way to process legal documents without the expense of hiring a lawyer to write them. With Nolo you can create your own trademark, file for a patent, and create bankruptcy paperwork among many other legal documents. This review will focus on the living trust service.

The living trust page on the Nolo website is very simple,but perhaps a little too simple. There is a brief statement encouraging folks to create a living trust, and then a section outlining what you get with the service. The problem is, the list is very short and just says "name beneficiaries, avoid probate, and much more."It also indicates that you trust have access to the living trust for one year.

Below that is a FAQ section that outlines what a living trust is and contains a whole list of information about living trusts. There is a lot of information here, and much of it is very helpful. But we weren't too keen on the way it was presented and thought it could be confusing for someone who didn't have any knowledge of living trusts at all.

Moving on to the creation of the living trust itself, we navigated to the "get started" page and were disappointed to find that there is only an option to purchase the online form. With Nolo you must purchase the form for $59.95 in order to even get started. This is in contrast to other Living Trust providers who allow the user to create the living trust first, and then choose to pay for it based on a list of prices for various options.

Regarding the cost, Nolo offers only one option; it is $59.95 to complete the trust and have access for it for one year. This is a lot more costly than some of the other online living trust providers we have reviewed, particularly if someone wanted to renew for more than one year, the cost would be prohibitive.

Nolo is a well-known legal document provider with an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. It's entirely possible that many of their services are top notch, we just don't feel their living trust service is up to par with what other companies have to offer.

Tops

• Cost: $29.95 one-time fee

The TOPS Company (Trade Offset Printing Service) has been around since 1953 providing standardized business forms and are one of the leading manufacturers of office supplies in the United States. This review will focus on their living trust kit they offer to customers who wish to complete their own living trust document.

The TOPS website is a like a big online store featuring all of the various product TOPS has to offer. Browsing through you can find a dizzying number of binders, folders, labels and other office supplies that make up the bulk of TOPS business. Finding the living trust offering is a bit of a chore. You have to select the 'forms' heading and then search for 'legal forms' and then 'personal legal forms' and eventually you get down to a page that has a bunch of options to purchase legal form kits. To narrow it down we did a search for living trusts and the website returned a list of 21 various kits, including some specific to certain states, some for single people only, and separate products for the amendment of and revocation of living trusts.

Choosing one of these products brings you to a screen with a very brief description of what you receive with your purchase. Most kits include an instruction manual on how to complete the form, and the form itself which can be saved on a personal computer, filled out according to the instructions, and printed locally. Most of the kits we saw were $29.95, which is inexpensive compared to some of the other living trust providers, but includes very little for the money.

There are no links to any information on what living trusts are, why someone might need one, or even guidance on which of the many various living trust kits would be right for which customers. There are no links to additional resources, no FAQ, nothing other than the option to purchase the kit. A living trust is an important legal document that is complex and there are many issues to consider when creating one for yourself. TOPS is selling living trusts in the same way they sell notepaper and file cabinets; with very little guidance or attention to detail. We don't feel this is the best way for a consumer to go about the business of creating a living trust.