LegalZoom Estate Planning Review

LegalZoom Products

As previously mentioned, estate planning is one of LegalZoom’s most popular products. Here is a more comprehensive breakdown of everything you can expect from LegalZoom’s “a la carte” estate planning products, along with the Estate Planning Bundle.

Last Will and Testament

A last will and testament allows you to dictate exactly how you want your properties and assets to be distributed after your death. With LegalZoom, you can create a last will and testament in as little as 15 minutes. LegalZoom offers two options for this product: Basic Last Will ($89) and Comprehensive Last Will ($99).

The Basic Last Will package enables you to create a personalized will for your state of choice. This includes a step-by-step guide for creating your will and a 30-day grace period starting on the day of your purchase. During this time, you can make as many revisions as you like at no extra charge. The Comprehensive Last Will offers everything from the Basic Last Will package, plus two weeks of personalized legal advice related to your will.

Living Will

A living will, also known as an advance health care directive, dictates what actions should be taken if your health prevents you from making your own health care decisions. For example, if you become incapacitated after a car accident and require life support, a living will ensures that your doctors know whether you want to remain on life support, and if so, for how long.

LegalZoom offers two living will packages: Basic Living Will ($39) and Comprehensive Living Will ($49). The Basic Living Will package allows you to create a document that meets the requirements of your state and make revisions up to 30 days after the date of purchase. The Comprehensive Living Will includes everything in the Basic Living Will package, plus two weeks of personalized legal advice from a licensed attorney.

Health Care Power of Attorney

A health care power of attorney is similar to a living will, with one important difference. Rather than specifying what medical actions should be taken if you are incapacitated, a health care power of attorney gives the decision-making power to a designated individual. In essence, this document allows you to appoint a person to make medical decisions on your behalf if you are unable to do so.

LegalZoom offers health care power of attorney solutions starting at $39. Unlike most of its other legal document services, LegalZoom offers only one package for a health care power of attorney document. However, you can get additional services related to this document if you opt for the Estate Planning Bundle (more on that later).

Living Trust

A living trust allows you to benefit from a trust now and plan how your trust will be managed for its future beneficiaries once you’re gone. It is one of the best ways to keep your trust out of a probate court and fast-track payouts to family members or other beneficiaries. If you make your Living Trust with LegalZoom, you have two options: Basic Living Trust ($279) and Comprehensive Living Trust ($299). These packages provide the same general benefits as other document creation packages, with the Comprehensive Living Trust offering two weeks of legal advice on top of the basic document creation and revision benefits.

Financial Power of Attorney

Like a health care power of attorney, a financial power of attorney document hands decision-making powers over to a third party. You can choose whom you want to make important financial decisions on your behalf if your health prevents you from making these decisions on your own. Again, LegalZoom offers two solutions: Basic Power of Attorney ($35) and Comprehensive Power of Attorney ($45). The former enables you to create and revise a financial power of attorney that conforms to the relevant laws in your state, while the latter allows you to do the same with up to two weeks of personalized legal advice.

Estate Planning Bundle

LegalZoom’s Estate Planning Bundle is its featured product that can help you save money if you want more than one of the company’s estate planning services. The types of documents and services you get will depend on the bundle you choose. You can create a Last Will Estate Plan for one person ($249) or for two people ($349). Alternatively, you can create a Living Trust Estate Plan for one person ($399) or for two people ($449).

With the Last Will Estate Plan, you can make a last will and testament, financial power of attorney, and living will (one per person on your plan). Each of these documents can be revised up to one year from the purchase date of the bundle. Plus, you can get legal advice related to your estate plan for one year.

The Living Trust Estate Plan package is essentially the same, but instead of a last will and testament, you can create a living trust. Since a living trust takes legal precedence over a will and can be edited over your lifetime, it is not necessary to have both. This means you can choose a plan that best suits the requirements of your estate and still get all of the essential documents you need. If you need more than one estate planning document, we recommend the bundle, as it offers the best value.

LegalZoom Pricing

To better understand the costs of using LegalZoom, here are all of the prices for each estate planning service:

Customer Support

LegalZoom offers various customer support options based on the kinds of services you use and the help you require. Regardless of your plan type, you can contact customer support via the online chat tool, phone, or email. You can also write to the address provided in the Help menu (if you are already a member of LegalZoom). The LegalZoom support staff is often praised for its attentive care with the large base of customers.

How to Create LegalZoom Estate Planning Documents

Creating LegalZoom documents is relatively straightforward. Though the exact information you need to provide varies with each type of document, the process remains uniform for most documents. Let’s say you want to create a last will and testament for yourself. First, you will need to create a LegalZoom account and sign in. For this part, you will just need to provide some basic identification and contact information.

From here, you can choose to start a new will. This is where you will need to enter your name, the names of your heirs, and your wishes. More specifically, you will need to answer questions in the following categories:

• Family (beneficiaries in your will)
• Gifts (assets to be distributed)
• Representatives (personal representative, executor, or administrator of the estate)
• Special considerations (additional wishes you want to include)

Lastly, you will purchase and finalize your plan. Keep in mind that you will still have 30 days to revise your will if needed (or up to one year with the Estate Planning Bundle). While this sounds like a great benefit, it is also indicative of how slow processes can be with LegalZoom. It could take anywhere from a week to over a month to generate relatively standard documents.

Again, the exact steps you will follow vary based on the type of document(s) and the plan you choose. However, LegalZoom provides you with step-by-step guidance to make sure that everything meets the standards required by law in your state.

Comparing LegalZoom to the Competition

LegalZoom is not the only provider of online legal solutions. Some of the company’s top competitors include Rocket Lawyer and Incfile. It is important to note that, while there are plenty of other online legal companies out there, many of them specialize in business formation. There are far fewer companies that have a wide range of products and services for individuals, particularly when it comes to estate planning.

When it comes to the sheer breadth of services, few companies can compete with LegalZoom. Once you sign up for LegalZoom, you can form an LLC, get tax and accounting advice, and plan your estate (just to name a few services). However, LegalZoom is not the cheapest option. If you’re willing to do most of the paperwork on your own, you can have someone at Incfile review your documents and file them free of charge. Alternatively, Rocket Lawyer offers similar services to LegalZoom at lower flat rates.

Many users also complain about the upselling and wait times on LegalZoom. Even if you just want to create a living will, you will likely be offered several options to pay more for services that you may or may not need. You might have to wait several weeks just to get the documents you’ve purchased. These issues are commonplace among legal service companies, but LegalZoom gets much of the criticism because it is one of the largest providers.

Fortunately, LegalZoom stands above most competitors when it comes to customer service. In the past, LegalZoom did not have as many dedicated agents to help with customer inquiries. The company has since increased the size of its support staff and become one of the best in the industry for high-quality customer care.