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LegalZoom vs WillMaker

Tuesday, December 3rd

2024 Living Will Service Reviews

LegalZoom Review 4 Star Rating

LegalZoom

4 Star Rating
  • Living Will priced from $39 to $49
  • Package options up to $249
  • Legal advice from $14.99 to $199/month
  • Thousands of 5-star ratings
  • Complete forms in 15 minutes
  • "A+” rating and accreditation from the BBB

LegalZoom stands out as a valuable resource for legal assistance in our review. With a user-friendly process taking 15 minutes or less, LegalZoom offers Living Wills starting at $39, with packages that include attorney advice. LegalZoom maintains an excellent reputation with an "A+" BBB rating and overwhelmingly positive customer reviews, earning it a solid rating as a reliable and professional option for creating a Living Will.

WillMaker Review 2.5 Star Rating

WillMaker

2.5 Star Rating
  • Membership priced from $99 to $209
  • Helpful FAQ
  • 30-day money-back guarantee for parent company
  • Document bundles offered
  • "A+” rating for parent company

WillMaker, owned by Nolo and supported by Quicken software, provides a comprehensive estate planning platform with a range of documents. The three annual membership tiers offer different levels of access, covering wills, living trusts, powers of attorney, living wills, and more. While lacking a comprehensive legal library, WillMaker offers a Legal Manual for document-related questions. The refund policy is unclear, as it relies on Nolo's 30-day window. With a mid-tier reputation and competition from stronger alternatives due to its lower popularity and unclear refund policy, WillMaker earns a slightly below average rating in our review.

Where is the Best Place to Create a Living Will?

We've all heard of a Will before, but what about a Living Will? This document is a specific legal option that addresses a particular phase of life - when you're approaching the end. If faced with a terminal illness or irreversible coma, decisions regarding life-sustaining or life-ending procedures may become necessary.

The purpose of a Living Will is to establish a premeditated plan, enabling you to make decisions about the preservation of your life if incapacitated. Alternatively, a Living Will also allows you to designate someone to make medical decisions on your behalf (medical power of attorney). And in recent years, online services that can help you create a Living Will have surged in popularity.

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Living Will Service FAQ

A living will, also known as an advance healthcare directive, is a legal document that specifies your medical wishes in the event you become incapacitated. It lets physicians know what kind of life-saving measures you want taken if you warrant life support or other extreme medical intervention. A living will can also outline preferences for pain medication and organ donation.
To use a legal service and create a living will, you should expect to pay around $40. Some services allow you access to their platform for a monthly fee where you can create hundreds of different documents like prenuptials, loan agreements, eviction notices, partnership agreements, quitclaim deeds, and more. Other services let you select the type of legal document you need and pay a flat fee for its creation.
A living will lets you make medical decisions for yourself while you're of a sound mind. No one knows you better than yourself, so a living will gives you the control to be taken care of the way you want. Oftentimes family members choose to go to extreme measures to prolong the life of a loved one, even if they have no chance of recovery or leading a productive life again. With a living will, you take the pressure away from family members and doctors who are left having to choose how your life-saving medical treatments should go.
Anyone who is at least 18 years old and of a sound mind can create a living will. A sound mind means you are able to understand the benefit, risk, and effect of signing the document. Regardless of your gender, race, medical history, or financial situation, you can easily have your living will written up online.
It's a good idea for everyone to have a living will. As unpleasant as it is to think about, you never know when you may be in an accident or diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. These things might make it so you can't think clearly enough to make medical decisions for yourself, so it's a good idea to have a living will written up. It takes effect as soon as you sign it and never expires.
Every state has its own rules about what can be carried out in a living will. Regardless of what you add to your living will, medical professionals can only carry it out if it honors state laws. Some examples of what situations might be outlined in a living will are terminal illness or injury, needing life support, and permanent unconsciousness.
You can make changes to your living will if you destroy your original one. Rather than making edits, it is best practice to create an entirely new living will if you need adjustments made. Be sure to let your healthcare representative and family members know about the changes and where to find your living will in case of an emergency.
One of the first steps you can take to make sure your living will is carried out is to let your family members and health care representatives know that it exists. As long as the living will is in harmony with local state laws and regulations, it is a legally binding document. If you present your living will to a physician who does not want to carry it out because of conflicting ethical or religious beliefs, it is best to transfer to a new doctor who is able to follow everything outlined in the document.
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Continued from above...

While you can create a Living Will at any point in your life, it is advisable to create one while of sound mind, without a life-threatening situation in the background. So for many, it can be something you prepare years and years in advance with no real need for the document anytime in the near future. This proactive step provides both you and your loved ones peace of mind in case of an unforeseen emergency, where emotions run high, and life takes an unexpected turn.

Contemplating these matters might not be the most enjoyable task, and if you're just getting started, the process can seem very complex. This is one of the reasons not everyone has a Living Will. But with so many online platforms making it quick and easy to put together, you can now find an affordable way to put together all of the documents you might need for end-of-life concerns. Plus, with these online services, you don't need to find a local lawyer to help you through the process. Legal help is usually included in the fees.

Modern sites have made it possible to create a Living Will from the comfort of your own home. An online Living Will service guides you through a systematic process, prompting you to provide the necessary information to cover all aspects of the Living Will comprehensively. The process aims to instill confidence in creating your Living Will, ensuring no critical steps are overlooked. Some providers even offer round-the-clock customer service to address any questions that may arise as well as appointments with and reviews by professional lawyers.

Even with the ease of online creation for Living Wills, there are a lot of options out there. While exploring the array of online Living Will services, consider these crucial aspects to help you narrow down what you need:

  • Pricing. As you won't be engaging directly with lawyers (unless you opt in for additional services), it's essential to locate a Living Will creation service that offers affordability. Before enrolling with any service, you'll want to see if the services offer one-time payments or monthly plans. Some even offer annual payments, so it will be important to decide how much help you need and what you need to pay for.
  • Reputation. Make sure you check out each company's credentials. What scores do they have with the Better Business Bureau? How do the different services stack up in the customer reviews? If other customers just like you are happy (or unhappy) it can help you make a more informed decision.
  • Guidance and resources. The process of crafting your Living Will should be clear and uncomplicated at the site that you choose. Legal terminology can be overwhelming, particularly for those unfamiliar with the terms. The top companies recognize this and provide supportive resources such as articles, access to customer service, legal dictionaries, and FAQs to guide you through the process seamlessly.

With something as important as life and medical decisions, you don't want to leave it up to chance. To help keep the future low-stress for you or your family members, Top Consumer Reviews has evaluated and ranked the best online legal services to assist you in creating a Living Will. It's our goal to help provide the peace of mind you need as you undertake this important task!

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