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FreeWill Review 2023

FreeWill.com services have been available since 2017. This company offers free documents to make a will, living will, living trust, and financial power of attorney. The forms are easy to fill out and can be created in under 20 minutes. FreeWill.com has a Trust Score of 4.8/5 on Trustpilot. However, this service is only suitable for simple cases, as their templates are very general.

Should you really make a will for free? Learn about the pitfall of free wills here.
Have you tried this company? How would you rate your experience?

Services:

  • Last will and testament
  • Living will
  • Living trust
  • Financial Power of Attorney

Availability map:

Available in Hawaii Available in Hawaii Available in Hawaii Available in Hawaii Available in Hawaii Available in New York Available in Vermont Available in New Hampshire Available in Maine Available in Massachusetts Available in Connecticut Available in Rhode Island Available in New Jersey Available in Connecticut Available in Maryland Available in Oregon Available in Washington Available in Idaho Available in Wyoming Available in Montana Available in North Dakota Available in South Dakota Available in Nebraska Available in Kansas Available in Oklahoma Available in Texas Available in Minnesota Available in Iowa Available in Wisconsin Available in Missouri Available in Arkansas Available in Louisiana Available in Mississippi Available in Alabama Available in Tennessee Available in Georgia Available in Florida Available in South Carolina Available in North Carolina Available in Illinois Available in Michigan Available in Indiana Available in Kentucky Available in Ohio Available in Virginia Available in Pennsylvania Available in West Virginia Available in Nevada Available in Alaska Available in Alaska Available in Arizona Available in New Mexico Available in Utah Available in Colorado Available in California

Value for Money:

n/a

Official website:

Overall rating71.9%
  • star-100
  • star-100
  • star-100
  • star-100
  • star-25
Updated Sep 21, 2023
Not available via OWM

Pros and cons

  • Completely Free
  • Easy-to-understand interface
  • Simple terminology - easy to understand
  • Only works well for simple wills
  • No support available
  • Somewhat outdated softwate
 

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1
Overall rating 98.6
  • star-100
  • star-100
  • star-100
  • star-100
  • star-100
Oldest Will Making Service
Services
  • Last will and testament
  • Living will
  • Living trust
  • Medical Power of Attorney
  • Financial Power of Attorney
  • + 3 more
  • Will Codicil
  • Amendment to Living Trust
  • Revocation of Living Trust
Pros and cons
  • Detailed forms and instructions
  • Includes 35 documents+2 books
  • Can use for multiple people
  • Regular updates as laws change
2
Overall rating 97.1
  • star-100
  • star-100
  • star-100
  • star-100
  • star-100
Best Selection of Features
Services
  • Last will and testament
  • Living will
  • Living trust
  • Medical Power of Attorney
  • Financial Power of Attorney
  • + 4 more
  • Will Codicil
  • Amendment to Living Trust
  • Revocation of Living Trust
  • Pet Guardian Trust
Pros and cons
  • Detailed final documents
  • Intuitive user interface
  • Easy to ask a lawyer or support
  • Good form builder
3
Overall rating 95.1
  • star-100
  • star-100
  • star-100
  • star-100
  • star-75
Great Value for Money
Services
  • Last will and testament
  • Living will
  • Medical Power of Attorney
  • Financial Power of Attorney
Pros and cons
  • Customizable will template
  • Easy to update long-term
  • Free unlimired updates for one year
  • 30-day money-back

Editorial Notes

If your will is simple and straightforward, you can create it with FreeWill free of charge. However, you will need to consult your attorney and make sure it is legal in your state.

It will only take you about 20 minutes to create a legal document online with FreeWill. All you need to do is fill out a questionnaire and print out the forms. To make your documents official, you will need to sign them in-person with your witnesses. Keep them in a safe, but easily accessible place. In case you would like to create a more complicated will that does not fit into the template, you again might need the help of an experienced attorney. FreeWill has a network of attorneys to review the forms under the laws of the follow’s jurisdiction, but not in every state.

Credibility: Is FreeWill legit?

Established in 2017
Registered in New York, NY
Google Rating n/a
BBB grade A+ (NOT BBB ACCREDITED)

FreeWill Co., a Delaware Public Benefit Corporation, offers free online services that provide legal forms and legal information. However, this is not a law firm and cannot be used as a substitute for a lawyer’s advice.

FreeWill is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau and does not have any Google ratings or reviews, which makes it hard to judge about its credibility.

Is FreeWill safe? Is FreeWill secure?

FreeWill encrypts all the data that you enter on their website. Your personal information is backed up and encrypted using AES-256 GCM encryption with root keys stored in an HSM. FreeWill uses modern, secure SSL/TLS settings and HTTP headers to ensure you can safely and securely browse their site. All these protocols make FreeWill a safe and secure site that makes every effort to protect your data from unauthorized access and misuse.

FreeWill Services and Pricing

FreeWill offers all of its services for free. Apart from the charitable giving component (optional), there is no cost for any of their services.

On FreeWill.com, you’ll find the following services:

Services one-doc Package Subscription
Last will and testament
Living will *
Living trust
Financial Power of Attorney
* Advance Healthcare Directives

Last Will and Testament

This document communicates your last wishes to loved ones. It governs the division of property, custody of dependants/pets, and more.

Revocable Living Trusts

The state of California has restrictive rules around Last Will & Testaments. A Revocable Living Trust gets around the expenses of going to probate court.

Advance Healthcare Directives

A document that spells out your wishes regarding end-of-life healthcare decisions. Involves DNR orders, treatment preferences in case of indefinite coma, etc.

Financial Power of Attorney

A document that assigns decision making powers in the event of your incapacitation

Attorney Support

In case you need legal help, FreeWill provides users with links to several attorney-finding resources, including the directory of the ACTEC fellows and the American Bar Association’s “Hire a Lawyer” page.

FreeWill: Strengths

  • It’s free – Paying a lawyer to do your Last Will & Testament is expensive. Online services, while cheaper, may still be out-of-reach. FreeWill.com makes estate planning accessible to everyone.
  • Easy-to-understand interface – Creating estate planning documents with FreeWill isn’t just free, it’s a simple process. Fill in information when prompted, and before you know it, you’ll be done.
  • It’s fast – So long as you have all your information in front of you, will creation on FreeWill is quick. In less than 20 minutes, you’ll have a legally-binding document (don’t forget to sign it with witnesses, though).
  • They’ve raised over a billion dollars for charitable causes – Paying it forward is a big part of why FreeWill was founded. In return for not paying, will creators can choose to pledge a portion of their estate to a charitable cause. As of October 2020, FreeWill has raised 1.8 billion USD for charity.

FreeWill: Weaknesses

  • Software isn’t the most advanced – Reviews on Trustpilot (1,100 and counting) are overwhelmingly positive. However, a few users complained about the text fields, as they found that its line and page breaks made the end product “unattractive”.
  • Only works well for simple wills – If a will creator has complex wishes, FreeWill doesn’t accommodate them. For instance, a complainer brought up the fact that you can only select a surviving biological parent as the guardian of minor children. Jenny Xia Spradling, FreeWill co-CEO, replied, saying that complicated state-by-state laws prevented them from providing other options.
  • Living Trust available only for California residents – FreeWill gives its customers the opportunity to create a living trust but it's only available for people living in California.

Compare FreeWill

Payment structure No fees
Free trial No
Guarantees No
States covered All states
Attorney Support By referral
Attorney Cost Determined by attorney

Anyone who starts looking for an online will-making service has their work cut out for them, as there are well over a dozen companies offering services in this niche. Some companies offer comprehensive but often very expensive packages with many documents, others sell individual documents, and a number of companies even offer free estate planning forms. Likewise, some companies provide free attorney support and lots of additional features while others have bare-bones offers that virtually anyone can afford. So how can you figure out which company offers a service that suits you? Just start with the Compare section in our online will maker reviews and see how each company fares against its competitors on key characteristics.

1-4 Docs 38.9% 5-7 Docs 38.9% 8+ Docs 22.2%
Number of documents offered by different will makers
FreeWill offers 1 to 4 documents

Number of Documents Offered

FreeWill offers a small but comprehensive selection of documents for people in need of estate planning services. They include a last will and testament, living will, living trust, and financial power of attorney. While these documents will likely be enough to fulfill your basic estate planning needs, you may need to find another company if you want to create other documents, such as medical power of attorney or guardianship documents for your pets and children.

Subscription only 33.3% Subscription or one-doc 27.8% Package only 16.7% Package or one-doc 16.7% One-doc only 5.6%
Payment structure offered by different will makers
FreeWill offers subscription-only payment options

Payment Structure

FreeWill is one of the few companies that provide free estate planning documents for all of their customers. This is an amazing opportunity for people who can’t afford to create a paid will online or hire an attorney. However, free estate planning documents do have some downsides, so you should consider all options carefully when making your choice.

No guarantee 38.9% Money-back guarantee 61.1%
Availability of money-back guarantees offered by different will makers
FreeWill does not offer a money-back guarantee

Guarantees

As the company’s name suggests, all documents offered by FreeWill are free. As a result, this will-maker doesn’t provide any refund guarantees.

By referral 22.2% No 50% Yes 27.8%
Availability of attorney support offered by different will makers
FreeWill offers by referral attorney support

Attorney Support

In addition to offering all their documents completely free of charge, FreeWill also provides their customers with a list of approved FreeWill fellows whose services you can purchase. These are attorneys who can help customers with complicated estates who aren’t able to make their documents online without the help of a professional. If you are looking for a local attorney you can trust, you can check the FreeWill fellows page on the company’s website.

Unlimited 38.9% Limited-time 38.9% Until subscription ends 22.2%
Free document update period offered by different will makers
FreeWill offers an unlimited free document update period

Free Document Update Period

Since you don’t need to pay anything for creating estate planning documents on the FreeWill website, you can make new forms as many times as you want when you need to amend them. If you need to change your beneficiaries or add new property to your will, you can do it free of charge as frequently as necessary.

No 83.3% Yes 16.7%
Phone app availability offered by different will makers
FreeWill does not have a phone app

Phone App Availability

Unfortunately, FreeWill does not offer an app that you can use to complete your estate planning forms. However, you can opt to fill out the necessary forms using a computer, or you can use a mobile browser on your tablet or smartphone to access the company’s website. If app availability is a significant factor for you, you can opt for one of FreeWill’s competitors.

Ease of Use

Instructions Yes
Output format PDF
Turnaround Time Instant
PlatformWeb
Updates Unlimited

For a free service, FreeWill is remarkably easy to use. Apart from some minor formatting hiccups, the data entry process is simple and straightforward. So long as you have all the proper documentation in front of you, you can be done in under 20 minutes.

For the most part, FreeWill streamlines the will creation process via easy-to-click prompts. For a legal document that handles end-of-life decisions, it almost seems too easy. If you get stuck at any point, this service’s outstanding customer service will help you out of your rut.

Unique Functions Offered by FreeWill

In addition to offering Last Will & Testament creation, FreeWill also offers other document creation services. These include:

Community Forum

If you have any questions about will creation or site features, ask them here. Other users or company reps will answer them to the best of their ability.

An Extensive Glossary

Last Will & Testaments are legal documents. Legal terms can get rather complicated. Thankfully, FreeWill has an extensive library that defines legal jargon in easy-to-understand terms.

A Regularly Updated Blog

Stay on top of the latest developments in estate planning through FreeWill’s regularly updated blog.

FAQ

What makes FreeWill free?
FreeWill is supported by non-profit organizations and donations from customers. Many online will-makers prefer to leave a part of their estate to charity listing FreeWill as one of the beneficiaries.
Can I make changes to my will?
Yes. After you have created a will, you can make changes to it or replace it with a new one. Just remember to destroy the previous one.
Can I get help while creating an online will?
You can contact FreeWill customer support by email or send them a message on Facebook. The email is preferable because they don’t check their messenger very often.
What if I die without a will?
In case you die without a will, a local probate court will decide how to distribute your property following the state intestacy laws.
Can I make a joint will with my spouse?
Yes, you can create a joint will, which merges your individual wills into a single, combine last will and testament.

Bottom Line

Not everyone has thousands of dollars to spend on lawyers. Fortunately, the internet has made free legal document creation not only possible but also easy and affordable. Thanks to FreeWill’s partnerships with non-profit organizations, they are able to offer will creation and other estate planning document services for free.

However, before using their service, you need to verify that creating this type of will is legal in your state and that everything you would like to include in your will fits FreeWill’s template.

One thing that you should understand is that FreeWill.com isn’t for everybody – they don’t cover many complex will creation topics. But, if your situation isn’t complicated, they can save you stacks of cash.

Ratings

Credibility
  • star-100
  • star-100
  • star-100
  • star-0
  • star-0
Services
  • star-100
  • star-100
  • star-100
  • star-100
  • star-0
Usability
  • star-100
  • star-100
  • star-100
  • star-100
  • star-100
Features
  • star-100
  • star-100
  • star-100
  • star-100
  • star-100

Total
  • star-100
  • star-100
  • star-100
  • star-100
  • star-25
Not available via OWM
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