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Thursday, January 23rd
Law Depot is a site that promises to be your all-in-one workspace for legal documents. Their goal is to make your legal experiences modern with efficient document access and fill-out procedures. Currently, over 13 million users are on Law Depot and the company has created and processed over 41 million documents to date. The company was started in 2001, founded by Ken Sawyer. All of the documents (including wills) on Law Depot are created by a team of legal professionals who have practiced law globally.
Detailed form but no funeral details
To create a will, you just need to find the Last Will and Testament document from the Estate dropdown menu. From there, you will be asked if the will is for you or someone else, and then guided to the forms to fill out. Law Depot will ask for your full name and place of residence, your marital status, whether or not you have children, details for any desired beneficiaries (person or charity organization), additional details if your listed beneficiaries are not alive when your assets will be distributed, whether or not you want to leave specific gifts or bequests, whether or not you want to limit the ages for when minors can receive inheritance, details for your executor, and finally whether you have any additional instructions. Oddly, there were no final resting details included in this form. However, we did love that each question had a "help” section on the side which described the reason for the form question and how best to fill it out accurately in case you are worried about whether things like alternate executors are needed.
Two wills and both offer free downloads
Law Depot offers two different kinds of wills: a Last Will and Testament document, and a Living Will. Both of the documents are listed as "free” to use (more on that later...) and download instantly. Filling out the required forms only takes 5 minutes of your time. Regarding other estate-related documents, Law Depot offers power of attorney documents, health care directives, revocable living trusts, and estate vault documents as well.
Pricing $49.95 (one time) or $12.99 to $49 per month
As we mentioned above, the site lists its documents as being free of charge. However, this is only if you get a trial subscription which is free for one week. After that week, you'll be auto-subscribed to a $49 per month fee. You can also choose a 1-year subscription for only $12.99 per month, or a one-time document purchase (for 10 years of access) for $49.95. It is unclear why the $49 subscription is an option, given the better deals in the single purchase and 1-year plans (and there is no additional benefit to subscribing beyond access to multiple documents over time), but you don't want to forget to cancel your free trial if you decide to go that route, or it could be costly.
No refund policy listed
There is no listed refund policy or guarantee at Law Depot, so you may want to keep a careful eye on the timeline for your free trial as you go forward. While getting a free document downloaded within that 7-day time frame is a great way to get your will at zero cost, you don't want to end up paying fees of $49 per month on accident, as it doesn't appear you'll get any refund if you forget. Yikes!
Mixed reviews due to price transparency
Currently, Law Depot holds an "A+” rating with the Better Business Bureau, but customer feedback is mixed for this company. Trustpilot shows an average rating of 4.1 stars out of 5 for the ease of use at Law Depot. However, BBB ratings are much lower, with complaints about high charges and dishonesty about the documents actually being free.
Needs to be more clear about pricing
While you can get free documents on Law Depot, things aren't exactly how the company presents them. Their main page promises a "free” Last Will and Testament; however, when you complete your forms, you'll be asked to sign up for an auto-renewing subscription with only 7 days free. Customers found this practice lacking in transparency. For this reason, and the fact that the will didn't include last wishes for funerals when other sites offered a full will, Law Depot falls a bit in our ratings.
Creating a will can be a stressful and costly experience. Reports show that less than half of Americans have a will in place. But it is possible to create a real, legally binding will without the hassle of finding a lawyer in person or paying exorbitant legal fees. Online will services are the way to go if you want to create your will in the comfort of your own home with no pressure or stress.
Online will services provide a faster, more affordable method that can get you a working will in minutes. So what are will services? Generally, online will services will help you build your will with step-by-step questions without overwhelming you with legal jargon. Some will services will also allow you to revise your will once you've created it. This can help give you peace of mind if you want to have a will early on in life.
To create your will, the company will ask you questions about your situation (marital status, children, assets, and more) to help generate the final document and provide state-specific forms that are legally binding where you reside. Will services make a sometimes stressful or lengthy process simple, and if you provide accurate information, it will be just as good as a similar document from an attorney.
The best part of will services is that you don't need to try to do all the work on your own. The right will service will help you along the way, offer experts to answer your questions, and make sure you have all the required sections such as bequests for your assets, determining a guardian for minor children, and naming an executor. You will still need to have your will signed and witnessed properly, but a good will service will help you finish that step too.
Check for services that have lifetime access, if you're planning to make updates in the future. You don't have to worry about a hassle to update your will if you have changes in your assets or living situation in the future.
If you're ready to get everything sorted and signed for your family's future, we understand. This is a big step, and you want to do it right. Here are some factors that might help you choose the best will service for your documents:
To help you take this important step and provide you with peace of mind, Top Consumer Reviews has researched and ranked the top will services out there today. This way, you can get everything sorted for the future of your family with no stress, to prepare and provide for your future generations.
Select any 2 Will Services to compare them head to head