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Not to be confused with a Living Trust, a Living Will covers one stage of your life - when you're near death. If you are suffering from a terminal illness or are in an irreversible coma, someone will have to make decisions about life-sustaining or life-ending procedures for you. The point of a Living Will is to have a plan beforehand so that you get to make your own decisions about the preservation of your life if you become incapacitated. Alternatively, a Living Will also allows you to appoint someone to make medical decisions for you (medical power of attorney).
It's not the most fun thing to think about and to some it sounds more complicated than it really is, so not everyone has a Living Will. However, there are many online platforms that give you the ability to quickly and affordably create your own Living Will from the comfort of your own home. It's a good idea to create one while you're of a sound mind, your life isn't threatened, and you can think clearly. This will give both you and your loved ones peace of mind in case of an emergency where emotions are high and life takes you by surprise.
Wednesday, December 6th
Rocket Lawyer is an online platform with direct access to attorneys for creating legal documents like business contracts, lease agreements, quitclaim deeds, Living Wills, divorce settlements, and more. Their services cater to audiences who have never created a legal document before and aren't familiar with the process. They've been featured by The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, CMBC, and Bloomberg Law.
Three simple steps
The process of creating a Living Will through Rocket Lawyer is outlined in just three steps:
Not too hard, right? And you can always refer back to your Living Will in your account if you need to make changes later. If you feel unsure about any step in the process, Rocket Lawyer has a great customer service team on-hand that you can contact through email, live chat, or by phone. They also have a list of FAQs that might answer your questions. For an additional $49.99 per inquiry, you can ask a lawyer any question you have as you go.
Memberships are worth the cost
If you want to give Rocket Lawyer a try without committing to a membership or buying a document, you can take advantage of their one week free trial. After the seven days are up, you'll automatically be billed $39.99 monthly until you cancel. Luckily Rocket Lawyer honors their cancellation policy and makes it easy for people to contact them by phone and end their subscription. However, if you want unlimited document creation, document review by an attorney, unlimited legal questions, 30-minute consultations on every new legal matter, and discounts when you hire an attorney, the $39.99 membership is worth the cost.
Free resources
For most of us who aren't familiar with legal terms or proceedings, Rocket Lawyer's legal dictionary will come in handy. You can find hundreds of terms to help clearly explain what it means to create a Living Will or any other legal document. You can also read free help articles about anything from affidavits to how to work with a lawyer.
Best option for Living Wills
Rocket Lawyer is one of the highest-rated legal document creation services reviewed by customers. There are thousands of people who have used their services and have great things to say about their experience. Rocket Lawyer's fantastic customer service, sleek website, easy cancellation after the free trial, and professional documents are frequently mentioned in comments from customers, and that really sold us on this service. In addition, they have an "A+" rating from the Better Business Bureau. Rocket Lawyer is easily one of the best places to create your Living Will, so they've earned our highest rating.
As you might have guessed by their name, Trust & Will helps people make estate planning simple and affordable. For a company that focuses on end-of-life preparations, they are an energetic, modern, and youthful organization. The company was started in 2018 in San Diego, California and has grown quickly, serving thousands of customers. Trust & Will has been featured by TechCrunch, Inc., Forbes, The New York Times, Entrepreneur, and USA Today.
Priced a bit higher than competitors
The three products provided by Trust & Will include creating a Trust, Will, and guardianship arrangements. The cost for a Trust starts at $399 ($499 for a couple), Wills start at $89 ($159 for a couple), and guardianship starts at $39 ($69 for a couple). A Living Will is included in the "Will" package and cannot be purchased on its own. The plans come with one year of unlimited revisions, and then you're charged $19/year afterwards. These prices are slightly higher than you might see from competitors, which is a big deciding factor for a lot of people, but they come with more than what you'll get elsewhere.
More bang for your buck
Even though pricing may seem higher than what you'll find through other companies, the Will package includes more than you might think. It covers who will take care of your children and pets after you pass away, who will handle your affairs, specific gifts you want to leave loved ones, how you want to distribute your assets, decide what will happen in a medical emergency, and designate health care agents. The included documents are a Last Will and Testament, HIPAA authorization, Living Will, and Power of Attorney.
Attorney support
For people who want more comprehensive assistance creating their Will and making updates, you can sign up with an estate planning attorney for $200. This gives you one year of support through an unlimited amount of calls, line-by-line document review, and estate planning and tax law advice. This service is only available to people in California, Michigan, New York, Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
Money-back guarantee
After you answer the questions required to complete your Will, you'll have the option to instantly download it to your device or request a free shipment of a paper copy. Or both! The last step is to finalize the Will by signing it with a notary. If for any reason you're unhappy with your document, you can contact customer support within 30 days for a full refund.
Perfect for thorough estate planning
For a business that was just started in 2018, Trust & Will seems to be flourishing. Not only do they have an "A+" rating from the Better Business Bureau (BBB), but all the reviews from customers on their BBB page are 5/5 stars. They have almost 100% positive reviews from over 1,400 customers other places online. Customers say that no matter your age, Trust & Will makes it easy to understand their process and create legal documents quickly. Their followup is impressive, and they earn high marks for having a great team to work with. Customers have save d a lot of money compared to traditional Living Will options, and their customers are thrilled with their experiences. If you're looking for a thorough estate planning package that goes above and beyond the creation of a Living Will, Trust & Will has earned your consideration.
LawDepot provides online Living Will services that are similar to other companies online, but they offer a much bigger selection of legal forms than their competitors. You can alphabetically search through hundreds of legal documents, forms, and contracts that are available for customization. They advertise that creating a Living Will can be done in as few as 5-10 minutes from start to finish.
Mostly "yes" or "no" style questions
To start your Living Will, you are prompted with a series of questions, most of them in "yes" or "no" form. For example, you'll be asked "Do you want all forms of medical care if your condition is terminal with no reasonable hope of recovery? This includes life support, tube feeding, and comfort care (pain relief)." Then you'll select either "yes" or "no" and continue to the next question. There are some fill-in-the-blank prompts about your personal information, but there are very few questions overall. A progress bar is displayed to give you an idea of how close you are to completing your Living Will.
Three pricing options
Creating a free account is required to save and refer to any of the documents you make on LawDepot. You can start with a one-week trial to create and access as many documents as you need. After the trial ends, it will renew for $33/month, but you can cancel at any time. You'll need a paid subscription to access your documents after the week is up. Your other option is to just pay-per-document and get 5 years of access. A Living Will costs $29 and comes with unlimited edits, revisions, prints, and downloads during the 5-year period. The third option is for customers to subscribe for one year to LawDepot for a prepaid price of $8.99/month. During this time you can create, access, and print as many documents as you want.
Comprehensive resources
When you're creating a Living Will, there is a comprehensive explanation of the document that you can reference as you go through the process. You can read the basics about why you need a Health Care Directive, what medical decisions you can make with a Living Will, how to make changes to your Living Will, and more. Additionally, a free, searchable law library is available on their site and you can read articles about finance, real estate, business, and family as they pertain to legal documents. LawDepot has one of the most useful compilations of help articles offered by any legal document creation platform.
Thousands of happy customers
Unsurprisingly, LawDepot has an "A+" rating from the Better Business Bureau. We were disappointed that there are over 63 customer reviews on their profile and they only result in a 1.67 out of 5-star rating. Customers complain about frustrations with charges after their free trial. To be fair, it's stated that you'll automatically be charged once the 7 days are up, so you'll mostly find unhappy customers who forgot to cancel their subscriptions, and this doesn't reflect much on LawDepot. There are over 4,000 reviews from customers other places online who have said good things about using LawDepot for creating their Living Will and other legal documents. People say they are happy with the pricing, and that LawDepot has a helpful chat line, is professional, and is an easy tool to use. Besides their lack of upfront pricing, LawDepot is a fantastic place to create your Living Will.
Founded in 1999, LegalZoom is a tool that makes legal help more widely available to Americans. They've served over 4 million customers and counting by helping them create Living Wills or any other legal document they are in need of. They offer a range of packages that give customers access to legal advice from attorneys to make sure their Living Will and other documents are valid and encompass all of the client's wishes.
Attorney advice options
The basic cost for a do-it-yourself Living Will with unlimited revisions for 30 days is $39. For $10 more you can get attorney assistance with creating your Living Will along with legal advice for two weeks after your purchase (legal advice can cover any topic and is a separate cost that renews at $14.99 monthly). A third option starts at $179 and includes a Living Will, Financial Power of Attorney, and a choice of a Last Will or Living Trust. You'll get one year of legal questions answered related to your estate planning and unlimited document revisions. After the year, legal advice renews at a cost of $119.88/year.
Intuitive process
The process of creating your Living Will is intuitive much like the other services in our review. You're guided step-by-step through a series of questions, beginning with your state of residence to create your personalized Living Will. You can answer all the questions for free and decide whether or not to purchase it once you're done. Most people are able to complete their Living Will in 15 minutes or less. You can view your documents through your account and download them at any time.
Contact customer service for questions
Some platforms offer a satisfaction guarantee for their forms, but LegalZoom doesn't. Since you are able to see the documents before deciding to purchase, you know what you're getting and shouldn't have any issues with them afterward. However, if you have a concern about any of LegalZoom's products, they have a customer care phone number listed on their website or you can submit a question via email.
Stellar ratings
If you need reassurance about using LegalZoom, they have over 750 reviews online with the majority being positive. They also have an "A+" rating from the Better Business Bureau and have over 2,200 reviews resulting in an overall 4.19/5 star rating, which is unusually high. Although they are a bit pricier than some other options, customer reviews hold a lot of weight and in that regard LegalZoom is clearly a fantastic option for making your Living Will.
Creating a Living Will is just one of the many things you can do on Find Legal Forms' website. They have a big selection of personal and business forms like bankruptcy, divorce, name change, real estate, bill of sale, employment, rentals, notices, and more. They were founded in 2001 by two California attorneys who saw the need for low-cost access to frequently used forms. Their forms are attorney-prepared and kept up-to-date as state laws change over time.
View samples and get free eSignature
A sample of each form is embedded in the product pages beneath the description. You can get an idea of how the formatting looks and what information will be listed on your Living Will before moving forward with your purchase. The cost for a Living Will form is only $6.99 from Find Legal Forms, which is extremely affordable. Plus, you'll be able to take advantage of the free eSignature feature that Find Legal Forms provides and sign your form online so you don't have to have it printed out.
Package options
There is a "combo packages" option on each product page that gives you a deal on forms related to the one you're viewing. For example, if you plan to purchase a Living Will form, you could also get a Health Care Forms Combo package for as low as $39.95 that includes forms related to organ donation, Living Will, and health care power of attorney. There is also a $4.99/month subscription option at checkout, but you can easily opt out by unchecking a box. The login page for subscribers is not secure and there is little information about what is included with your monthly cost, so we recommend just buying forms individually.
Immediate access to forms
As soon as your payment is processed, you'll be taken to a "Thank You" page that contains the download link for the forms you ordered. The forms can be used as many times as you want for personal or business use, but you may not resell or redistribute the forms in any way.
100% money-back guarantee
Find Legal Forms offers a 100% money-back guarantee on all their forms. If for any reason you're unsatisfied with your Living Will or any other form you purchase, you have 60 days to inform Find Legal Forms and request a refund.
No red flags
Find Legal Forms is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau, but they do have an "A+" rating. They don't raise any red flags as far as upset customers, shady subscriptions, or providing outdated legal forms. You won't be able to have an attorney review your Living Will after it's created, but if you aren't looking for that, then Find Legal Forms is a great option for online Living Will creation.
PartingWishes provides people with the opportunity to write their Living Will, Expatriate Will, Power of Attorney, Last Will and Testament, manage their digital assets, and even create pet memorials. They were founded in 2000 and operate as a sister company with another popular legal form service called US Legal Wills. PartingWishes provides affordable services with unique add-on features that people might find interesting.
Requires no legal background
Whether you're creating a Will, Power of Attorney, or your Living Will, you will be able to finalize your document in 20 minutes or less. Customers will complete a question and answer section, print their Living Will from home, and follow the directions for signing it. All questions are in plain language, so you don't need to have a legal background to create your Living Will with confidence.
Optional lawyer review
All documents created through PartingWishes are stored securely on their website, and you can make unlimited updates free of charge as long as you're a member. The cost to create a Living Will is $19.95 including taxes. If you want a lawyer to review your Living Will to make sure it is free of errors and you've correctly followed all of the steps to make it legal in your state, PartingWishes has an option that costs $69.
Discounts for spouses
Once you create your own account and purchase your document(s) from Parting Wishes, you'll receive a discount code for your spouse. The code allows them to get 40% off any order they make through Parting Wishes. So, if you make a Living Will, your spouse can make their own for just $11.97.
Unique add-on services
Alongside your Living Will, you can document your funeral wishes and organ donation preferences for free. You can also write final messages to your loved ones that PartingWishes will send out once you have passed away. This is a free service as well.
Other add-on services include an extra year of storage and updates for $11.95, 5 years for $24.95, 10 years for $34.95, 25 years for $74.95, and lifetime storage for $124.95. You can create a website about your life that goes online once you pass away with options for storage upgrades or to design an online memorial. The upgrade features may be a turnoff to some people just wanting easy access to their Living Will long-term.
Money-back guarantee
PartingWishes has an "A+" rating from the Better Business Bureau. They don't have as many customer reviews online as some other legal form services, but their sister company, US Legal Wills, has excellent customer feedback and they operate the same way. If you're unhappy with your purchase from PartingWishes, they guarantee your money back within 30 days, so you have nothing to lose! Although this isn't our first choice for creating a Living Will, we see no reason not to use them either. You'll be in good hands with PartingWishes.
LegalShield (formerly known as Prepaid Legal) was founded in 1976 with the mission to give people the ability to talk to attorneys about personal legal matters without worrying about the high costs. They have over 1.7 million members and 39 provider law firms. Whether your legal questions seem traumatic or trivial, LegalShield aims to give customers 24/7 access to quality law firms. They've been featured by Forbes, Yahoo Finance, Huffpost, Law360, and The Hill.
More than just a form
LegalShield reminds people that regardless of age or current health, Living Wills provide peace of mind, flexibility, and ensure you are prepared in the midst of an emotional medical emergency. The cost for using LegalShield is more than other companies in our review because they're providing more than just a form. You'll also get access to a law firm in your state for:
Monthly fee
The family plan for LegalShield is $24.95 per month. This covers you, your spouse, and your children. In addition to providing advice and consultation about your Living Will and other documents, your assigned provider attorney can also represent you in court. They can make phone calls and write letters on your behalf to solve legal problems. They can also review and provide feedback on an unlimited number of legal documents up to 15 pages in length. You can cancel your membership at any time and be refunded any unused portion of the membership on a pro-rata basis.
Cancel any time
It's not entirely clear what happens to your Living Will if you decide to cancel with LegalShield. Presumably, you'll keep the document as is and won't be able to make any changes with LegalShield from that time forward. In the event you need to make adjustments, you'll either need to renew your legal plan at LegalShield or find a new company. For any questions not spelled out on their website, they have a live chat, phone number, or email address for you to get in contact with their customer service right away.
Entertaining blog articles
LegalShield has an interesting blog that anyone can read about current event topics, or anything related to the legal situation you're in. A drop-down list gives options to read blogs about adoption, billing disputes, guardianship, home buying, identity theft, taxes, traffic violations, and everything in between. They don't have a law library or help articles, but their "Ask Erin" chatbot and customer service agents should be able to fill in any information gaps you might have.
Reliable company
Not everyone will turn to LegalShield since their prices are higher and services more comprehensive than the average person needs. However, those who have used LegalShield say their law firms are responsive, the process is simple, and their attorneys are knowledgeable and helpful. LegalShield has an "A+" rating from the Better Business Bureau, but the main complaint from those who aren't totally satisfied is that you have to jump through hoops to cancel your subscription. Other than that, people seem to be overall happy with their decision to trust their legal matters to LegalShield.
Long-term commitment
In addition to LegalShield being more in-depth than most people are looking for, it's also a financial commitment to pay nearly $25 per month long-term in order to have access to a law firm in case you need them. Most people would be satisfied with creating their Living Will and moving on, so this company hasn't earned a higher rating. However, if you're in the middle of a legal crisis and need legal documents reviewed, attorney counsel, and a list of legal forms, this is a great alternative to hiring a personal lawyer. You can save thousands of dollars within just a few days of using their service. If this is the case for you, then you should give LegalShield a shot.
An online Living Will service will walk you through a step-by-step process and prompt you to provide the information needed to cover all your bases. The process is designed to help you feel confident about creating your Living Will and make sure you don't skip any important steps. Some providers even have customer service agents available round-the-clock to answer any questions you have along the way.
When browsing through the selection of online Living Will services, here are a few important things to consider:
TopConsumerReviews.com has ranked the best online legal services to help you create a Living Will. We hope this information helps you feel peace of mind as you complete this important task!
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