Find out more here. Having a legal will in place protects your loved ones after you die and ensures that your assets are distributed in the way you intended. Formally called a last will and testament, it's a legal document that contains specific estate plan directions about who should receive your personal property in the event of your death. It also identifies an executor -- the person responsible for carrying out your wishes, including arranging for the care of your minor children and pets, and managing the distribution of your assets.
If you have a small estate without any real property, an online will maker is the best choice for most people for estate plan document creation. If you have assets that exceed your state's maximum for simple distribution after death or if you have a large or complex estate, you'd be better off working with an estate planning attorney.
Whether you use a lawyer or an online service provider, creating a will takes some work. First, you need to compile a detailed list of your assets, such as real estate, valuable or sentimental personal property, term life insurance, bank accounts, brokerage accounts, etc. Next, you need to write out the will -- which is when a law firm or online service comes in handy.
Finally, to execute the will and ensure it's legally binding, you need to recruit at least two witnesses, who cannot be beneficiaries or executors, and, in some cases, a notary, to sign the document. A good will maker provides reasonably priced document creation, has all the forms you'll need -- such as power of attorney, a living will and health care directives -- and provides informed legal guidance, including accommodations for any special rules for your home state.
Some services will try to sell you on unlimited revisions or online storage, but once a will is signed and executed, you won't be able to make major changes to it, so those features are irrelevant for most people. Read more: How to start investing right now.
There are, however, a few free services that provide some basic document creation templates. In addition to an exhaustive library of forms for estate planning, some of the higher-end estate planning services offer legal assistance -- which can be nice to have if you have questions or require state-specific advice.
We evaluated a number of the best online will makers across a number of categories, prioritizing price, attorney access, the quality of the legal document guidance and user interface and the inclusion and accessibility of all relevant forms.
We've listed our top picks for creation of estate planning documents below as well as our assessments of a handful of other well-known services. We update this list of the best online will maker options periodically. When it comes to planning your estate, Rocket Lawyer does it all. And the legal service company's free seven-day trial may be both long and full-featured enough to give you what you need; you can create up to three estate planning documents and have a brief consultation with a lawyer by phone or email.
Rocket Lawyer has a large network of attorneys that covers all 50 states. You can get connected with a lawyer via live chat for quick, simple questions or schedule a minute phone legal advice consultation for any specific questions. And the included legal counsel document review protects you from making major legal document mistakes that could render your will invalid. Creating wills and the other necessary estate planning legal forms on Rocket Lawyer is simple and painless.
It took me around 15 minutes to complete the process. It's fairly easy to find additional estate planning information on any given subject such as real estate, durable power, advance directives, health care directives, HIPAA authorization, inheritance tax, estate tax and probate court as you go through the interview-based interface, and there's a notes field so you can keep track of questions to ask your appointed lawyer afterwards.
Bottom line: This is the best online will maker for most people. The legal forms software, which takes into account state-specific laws and processes, is regularly updated by a team of legal experts. And once you buy it, you own it, so you can create new forms or documents whenever you please. The main drawback is that Nolo doesn't include access to attorneys for legal advice -- so there's no legal professional to review your documents or answer questions.
As such, Nolo's Quicken WillMaker and Trust is best suited to those who come to the table with an understanding of how to draft wills and have a game plan for their estate. The upside is that you can review your will and other estate planning documents periodically and make changes without having to repurchase the software.
Still, each time you make a significant change, you will need to execute the will again -- usually, with two witnesses and possibly a notary, too -- and destroy any past copies.
Writing up a will took about 25 minutes -- a bit longer than the others we tried. But Nolo Quicken WillMaker and Trust was by far the most thorough of all of the will makers we tried, with an extensive library of templates, tools and resources. With Clio Grow, you can attract and retain new clients online—even while working remotely. Clio Grow lets you automate your client intake process, schedule consultations, accept payments online, and automate emails and redundant tasks.
Clio took our firm into a new age of practice management and we feel like a new firm. We communicate better with our clients, we lose fewer billable hours, and we can work on-the-go, which is important for firms with lawyers who waste countless hours waiting around courthouses.
After evaluating several different practice management systems, our firm started working with Clio. Clio has been a great asset for our firm. It is easy to use for our less tech-savvy users and has a lot of goodies for those that really want to dig deeper into the system. Clio Practice Types. Standardize information collection Create custom fields in Clio Manage to keep key case and client information on hand, including dates of birth, dates of death, marriage dates, or whatever you need for your estate planning clients.
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In the meantime, please feel free to search for ways to make a difference in your community at www. Javascript must be enabled to use this site. Please enable Javascript in your browser and try again. Now Reading:. Membership My Account. View All Included Products. Want To Know More? Start your plan now! Here are highlights of the changes made for the version. What's new in WillMaker ? The legal manual and signing instructions contain new information about storing legal documents.
Prevalidating wills — in a few states you can prevalidate your will before you die Most documents no longer include notary certificates. Learn more. Will Changes to the interview to clarify that pets are property. Learn how to provide for a loved one with special needs without jeopardizing government benefits. Includes all the forms and information you need to make a third-party special needs trust.
As long as your computer is connected to the Internet, your program will update automatically whenever a new update is available. You can create a basic Louisiana will with our simple online form. If your permanent residence is outside of the United States, you should not use WillMaker. If you are out of the country temporarily —- for school, a job or because you serve in the military, you probably still have ties with a particular state that make it your legal residence.
In that case, you can still use WillMaker. For example, if you were born in Wisconsin, lived there for many years, are registered to vote there and receive mail there in care of your parents, who still live in Milwaukee, then Wisconsin is your legal residence for purposes of making a will even if you are spending three months on sabbatical in Europe.
Can I use WillMaker to make more than one set of documents? Yes, WillMaker is intended for individual family use, and you can use it to make more than one of any document. You can make a will for yourself, your wife, your brother, your parents, and so on. To start a new document in Willmaker, go to the Your Documents screen. Or on the Your Documents screen, click on the orange "New Document" button.
Can I use WillMaker to make a joint will with my spouse? With WillMaker, each of you must make your own will, even if you both agree about how your property is to be distributed. There is solid legal reasoning behind this rule. Joint wills are intended to prevent the surviving spouse from changing his or her mind about what to do with the property after the first spouse dies. The practical effect is to tie up the property for years and make it impossible for the surviving spouse to react to changed circumstances.
Also, many court battles are fought over whether the surviving spouse can revoke any part of the joint will. If you want to restrict how your property can be used after your death, or make special provisions for children from a prior marriage, using a trust is usually a better solution. See a lawyer to set up this kind of trust.
That said, with WillMaker you and your spouse can easily create identical wills -- that is, two separate wills in which all the provisions such as beneficiaries and children's guardians are the same. If you want to do this, look for the "Duplicate for Spouse" button provided on the Congratulations screen at the end of the will interview after the Print Preview screen. Does the signature on my will need to be notarized? You must sign your will in front of two witnesses, but no state requires that a will be notarized to be valid.
That said, some states allow you to attach a self-proving affidavit, which must be notarized, to your will. A self-proving affidavit is a separate document, signed by your witnesses, that makes it simpler to admit your will to probate after your death. If your state offers this option, your WillMaker will will print out with a self-proving affidavit. How do I make a pour-over will?
Under the terms of a pour-over will, all property that passes through the will at your death is transferred to poured into your trust. Why have a will that does nothing but transfer property to your trust? This arrangement offers several advantages. When everything is controlled by just one document, the trust, it makes it clear who gets what.
No one does. This keeps the details of who inherits your property more private.
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