LegalZoom will review: Pros, cons, and alternatives

LegalZoom is an online legal service provider known for offering small business services, like LLC formation, that allow small businesses to access legal assistance without the cost and complexity of hiring a lawyer. They also offer estate planning documents, including a last will and testament and a revocable living trust.

If you need an estate plan (and every adult should have one!), you might be wondering: Is LegalZoom legit? How much does LegalZoom cost? Can you even make a will online? This article examines LegalZoom's estate planning services, evaluating their cost, customization options, and overall value. Whether you're starting your estate planning journey or considering a simpler way to update your existing plan, read on to see if LegalZoom's products are right for you.

Although LegalZoom may initially be cheaper than hiring an estate attorney, their services still come at a cost. And after you create your documents, LegalZoom charges a fee every time you need to make edits — which can increase costs over time.

There are other online will providers — like FreeWill — that offer these documents for free. FreeWill’s will and trust documents are created and reviewed by estate planning experts, legal in all 50 states and Washington D.C., and are tailored to your needs. Plus, you have unlimited free updates to your documents, forever.

How does LegalZoom work?

LegalZoom offers self-guided online estate planning services. For a fee, you can choose either a Will or a Trust based on your needs. Both plans include other important estate planning documents, including a healthcare directive, financial power of attorney, and HIPAA authorization. If you’re not sure which plan to choose, you can opt to pay an extra fee to consult with an attorney vetted by LegalZoom.

After purchase, you’ll go through LegalZoom’s online questionnaire, answering questions about your property, finances, children, healthcare wishes, and more.

Once completed, LegalZoom creates your estate planning documents, which you can either download and print or have shipped to you. Regardless of which option you choose, you still need to sign and witness your estate plan to make it legally binding.

Before we go further, we want to clarify that making a will online is perfectly legal. American citizens have a constitutional right to represent themselves legally, meaning you can take almost any legal action on your own. This includes making your will. You’re not required to hire a lawyer to write your will, as some people mistakenly believe.

Want to know more about the will-making process? Check out our ten-step guide on how to make your own will.

How much does LegalZoom cost?

LegalZoom is not a free platform — all of their online estate-planning documents come at a cost.

LegalZoom will cost

• Basic Will: $99 for an individual or $199 for a couple.
• Premium Will: $249 for an individual or $349 for a couple.

With a couple’s plan, both individuals receive their own documents, which they must sign and witness. Note that LegalZoom will only print and ship one set of documents — you must pay an additional fee to ship the second partner’s documents.

LegalZoom trust cost

• Basic Trust: $399 for an individual or $499 for a couple.
• Premium Trust: $549 for an individual or $649 for a couple.

Again, with a couple’s plan, both individuals will receive (and must sign and witness) their own documents. And again, note that LegalZoom only prints and ships one set of documents, requiring an additional fee to ship the second partner’s documents.

Related article: Will vs. trust: which one should you choose?

Basic vs. Premium LegalZoom plans

LegalZoom offers two estate plan tiers: Basic and Premium. Premium Plans include a few extra features, such as one year of free revisions to your estate plan, compared to only 30 days with the Basic plan. But most of the Premium plan’s value comes from a subscription to “Assist,” LegalZoom’s legal guidance service.

With Assist, an attorney will review your will or trust documents, and you can make unlimited 30-minute calls with an attorney for one year after creating your estate plan. You also receive one year of free document revisions. Without a Premium Plan, you must pay a $19.95 access fee every time you want to change your estate plan.

An important note: LegalZoom’s Assist service automatically renews for $199/year on the anniversary of your estate plan creation. If you don’t want to renew, you should contact LegalZoom to cancel the subscription.

LegalZoom’s legal support

For an additional $150 a year, LegalZoom’s Assist program provides access to estate planning attorneys who can review your documents, give advice, and help you understand the tax implications of your estate plan.

Updating your documents on LegalZoom

Your estate plan is a living document that requires regular updates over the course of your lifetime. Estate planning experts recommend updating your estate plan every three to five years, or whenever you have a qualifying life event (like getting married, having a child, or moving to a different state).

With LegalZoom, you can make changes to your documents for the first 30 days if you purchased a Basic Plan, or for one year if you purchased a Premium Plan. After that, you must pay $19.95 each time you want to access and edit your documents.

To be clear: you don’t need to pay for ongoing legal support for your estate plan to be valid. One you have finished, printed, and signed your document, it remains legal even without continuous legal support through LegalZoom.

LegalZoom: Pros and cons

Curious how LegalZoom stacks up? Here are some benefits and drawbacks of the platform:

Pros:

1. Potential cost savings: Estate planning attorneys often charge hundreds of dollars an hour, which can easily price individuals out of necessary estate planning documents. LegalZoom’s offerings, while not necessarily cheap, could be more affordable than traditional routes.
2. Optional legal support: Some people may have questions about their estate that they want to discuss with a lawyer. With LegalZoom, you have the option to pay for access to legal support, which may still be cheaper than hiring an attorney directly.
3. Return policy: LegalZoom offers refunds of their estate planning products, though the window for a refund is only 7 days after completion.

Cons:

1. Can still be cost-prohibitive: At a price point of $99 for their cheapest plan, LegalZoom may still be too expensive for some individuals. (If this is true for you, consider a free online option like FreeWill.)
2. Additional fees: The cost of add-ons to your LegalZoom plan — like legal support and recurring fees to edit your documents — can add up quickly.
3. Paywall for documents: LegalZoom’s estate planning documents are behind a paywall, so you must commit to a plan and purchase before you can start. And with a short return window, you’ll need to request a refund quickly if the product isn’t what you expected.

Is LegalZoom worth it?

The value of LegalZoom depends on your situation and goals.

If you want to avoid the fully-loaded cost of having an attorney write your estate plan while still having access to legal help if you want it, LegalZoom could be a good middle-of-the-road option.

On the other hand, LegalZoom’s “a-la-carte” approach to estate planning means the costs can accumulate quickly, and may not save you much money compared to hiring an estate planning attorney. And if you want to make edits to your documents — which you will need to do as your life and circumstances change — the $19.95 fee will add up fast.

A free alternative to LegalZoom

If LegalZoom doesn’t meet your needs, there are other options. FreeWill offers the same legally-binding estate planning documents as LegalZoom in all 50 states, but because we partner with nonprofits, our will documents are completely free. We also offer free unlimited updates to your documents — no one-time access fees here. And we promise to respect your privacy: we protect your data using bank-level encryption and never sell it to third parties. Get started with FreeWill today.