Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Our services can be used to generate a custom-made Will, Power of Attorney and Living Will in the United States (except Louisiana).

In order to make these into legal documents, you should first print them, and read them thoroughly. Make sure that they accurately reflect your wishes and that you understand everything that is contained in the documents. According to the current laws in most jurisdictions, in order to be a legal document your Will must be signed in the presence of at least two witnesses, and the two witnesses must also sign the Will, in the presence of the "testator" (yourself) and in the presence of each other. You and the witnesses should also initial each page, so that it is not possible to alter any pages after the Will has been signed. In most jurisdictions, a witness cannot be a beneficiary of the Will, they cannot be the spouse of a beneficiary (at the time of signing), they cannot be a minor, and, like the "testator" (you), they must be of sound mind. There is no legal requirement to use the services of a lawyer or have the document notarized in order to create a legal Will, Power of Attorney or Living Will in the United States.

More details on the process to be followed for creating a legal document are included in the help text of the MyWill™ and MyExpatWill™ services. If these instructions are followed, then your Will is a legally binding document.

For an informative and eye-opening comparison of the MyWill™ service to do-it-yourself legal will kits, read about it here. 

What makes us different from other websites and kits?  Quite frankly, there is no comparison.  Here are just a few reasons why:

• We have designed our Legal Will creation service to be of the best quality available today.   We have evaluated many existing do-it-yourself kits and web-based services, including several of the most popular American legal will kits. We were shocked by the poor quality, limited instructions, and low value for money that many of these do-it-yourself kits provide consumers. 

• Incredible value for money.   Our membership pricing model allows us to provide you with the most value for your money at prices that are unprecedented in the legal industry. We worked with lawyers to bring you this service, and we paid for their legal services so you don't have to. 

• Plain language help and instructions.  In addition, all of our services provide you with complete instructions and answer your questions in everyday language, free of legal industry jargon.  We have developed our services based on the requirements of the public, not dictated by the legal profession.  Our wizards, help and information are also designed to be the best on the market and are kept up-to-date on an ongoing basis.  

• Create your Will from the comfort of your own home.  No lawyer required.  Our unique approach allows you to make use of the ultimate convenience of the Internet to write your Will at your own pace, online, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and to make changes online at any time free of charge. 

• Free unlimited updates.  Don't pay a lawyer every time you need to update your Will. We allow your Will to be kept securely online so that you can make free unlimited updates for as long as you are a member.

• You can still have it reviewed by a lawyer. We have worked with lawyers in the United States to bring you the MyWill™ and MyExpatWill™ services and to ensure that they are of the highest quality. But if you wish, we can still arrange for your Will to be reviewed by one of our lawyers, who will check the document for consistency and completeness.

• The Keyholder® Advantage. You can take advantage of our unique messaging service which allows you to describe the exact location of your Will and to provide a detailed list of assets for your Executor. All for no extra charge. When you pass away, let us worry about communicating this information to the people you specify. There is simply no other company that provides such a complete and convenient service to their customers. For more information, read about The Keyholder® Advantage.

• We employ a strong focus on protecting the privacy and security of your information.  We use industry standard encryption algorithms for storing all of your private information, and the design of our services ensures that the contents of your information are made available to the specific people designated by yourself, and only at the appropriate time. 

• Keep informed and up to date.  If you wish, we can inform you by email about any changes in legislation which may have occurred in your jurisdiction that may require changes to your Will.  Or we can send you simple email reminders, no more than once a year, to remind you to consider updating your Will if any significant changes have occurred in your life.  

Other websites and do-it-yourself kits simply do not compare.

"I used your service to write a Will for my dear wife Christine who passed away this year. The Will was easy to fill out and very straightforward. I never had one problem arise because of the Will."
--- Keith Sutton   Read more testimonials

We do not provide you with legal advice. We are giving you direct access to the same software that lawyers use to prepare their documents, but you are doing it yourself. In our opinion, lawyers significantly overcharge for most estate planning documents as they are inputting your information into software that generates documents like a Will for them. We do the exact same thing. However, if you need custom clauses written to cover an unusual situation, we cannot do that, and we recommend that you seek legal advice. For example, if you have a child with special needs, they would need a trust written for their inheritance. We don't do that.

In most cases, a document written using our service will be word-for-word identical to one prepared by a lawyer.

For a more thorough explanation, please read our blog article: How much does a Will cost? And why?.

There are no other payments required to prepare your legal Will. You can have a legal Will in your hands for $49.95 USD with nothing else to pay, ever.

What other options are there?
If you wish, you can have your Will reviewed by one of our lawyers for $69.00 USD. Most people do not need this, and would not benefit from it, but if you have selected an option such as "None of the above. Let me describe in detail how to distribute my estate.", then you may want to consider this.

Your Will must first be printed, and then signed in the presence of two witnesses. If you do not have access to a printer, we can print it for you and mail it out. The cost for this is $9.95 USD, but again, most people do not need this option.

We also offer other services like MyLifeLocker™, a Financial Power of Attorney, and a Living Will. They are not required, but they may be useful to you depending on your situation.

What about document storage?
We do not store physical documents, but we allow you to maintain an account with us if you want to update your document in the future.

The Will service costs $49.95 USD. With this payment, you are able to prepare your Will. It also gives you one year of unlimited updates to the document. You are able to print the document as often as you wish during that first year. You can download it as a PDF or Word file, but to make your document a legal Will, it must first be printed, and then signed in the presence of two witnesses. The online version is there for your convenience only.

If you choose not to maintain an account with us after the first year, your initial payment is all you will ever pay. We do not keep credit card details on file and cannot automatically charge beyond this initial payment.

If you wish, you can choose to store your documents online for longer than a year, which will make it easier to make updates in the future to reflect any changes in your personal or financial situation (rather than returning to a lawyer each time). This is of course optional, but it does make the process of maintaining your document more convenient. $11.95 USD will give you one additional year of updates, or you can purchase multiple years: 5 years at $29.95 USD, 10 years at $39.95 USD, 25 years at $79.95 USD ($3.20 USD per year).

Every time you make an update to your Will, it must first be printed, and then signed in the presence of two witnesses again. If you choose not to maintain an account with us, you will always have your printed, signed document. If you don't need to make changes to that document, it will last you for the rest of your life, whether or not you have an account with us.

What happens if I don't maintain an account, and then in a few years I need to update it?
If your account has not been touched in years, and it is inactive, we reserve the right to remove the account. You will receive an email notification that your account might be removed. However, in practice, we have never actually removed any accounts in our over 24 years of operation.

So, in all likelihood, you will be able to simply login to your account and pay $11.95 USD to reactivate it. This will give you one year of unlimited updates from the date of payment. (You will not have to pay for your inactive years.)

Here are a few common reasons that people indicate there is no point in writing a Will:

• "I don't really care who gets my estate.  I'll be gone anyway."
  Without a Will, your property may not go to the people that you wish to benefit. In most countries there is a law that decides how property should be distributed if a person dies 'intestate' (without a Will). The actual administration of your estate will also be complicated and difficult. The courts will usually decide who will act as a personal representative or 'executor' for distributing your possessions, and the laws in your local jurisdiction will determine who will get what. This may lead to acrimonious legal disputes between your survivors. Note that if you have no heirs, all of your assets, property and possessions can pass to your local government. The effort required to draft your Will is insignificant compared to the difficulties that dying without a Will presents to your survivors.
• "It's obvious who will get my estate.  It will go to my spouse."
  Local laws will determine who will receive your possessions, which may or may not reflect your intentions. If you die without a Will and you are married, your assets will not automatically go to your surviving spouse.  Local laws may determine that others, including children, may be entitled to a share.  This will be determined by the laws of "Intestate Succession" which vary from state to state, province to province, country to country, and will frequently lead to messy legal cases.
• "I don't have an estate of any value."
  Even if you don't believe that you have an estate of any value, your death itself may generate a sizeable benefit.  For example, your beneficiaries may be entitled to the proceeds of a life insurance claim, a wrongful death suit, a claim in the event of some negligence resulting in your death.  These can be significant sums of money.

Quite clearly, there is never a situation where a Will is unnecessary.  In many cases, this can be a simple declaration of your wishes for how your estate should be distributed, and this can be achieved by working through the MyWill™ wizard on this website.  You should draft a Will while you are still young and healthy, even if you don't feel that your assets are substantial.  There is absolutely no benefit in waiting until you are older.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of people do not have a Will. Some people feel that they do not need one because of one of the above reasons.  Others find it to be too time consuming to get organized, find a lawyer, arrange appointments and attend meetings during their already busy schedules. Many feel that the lawyers' fees surrounding the creation and maintenance of a Will are too expensive.  

Whatever your reason may be, you should know that it is extremely important that you have an up to date Will. If you die without a Will, the courts will decide how your estate is distributed, and this may not be in the best interests of your loved ones. It is impossible for us to know how your estate will be distributed, but we do know that if you have a Will, then the decisions are in your hands.

To die without a Will is irresponsible and places a tremendous burden on your survivors.  Do not put it off any longer.

A joint Will is a single document, signed by "co-testators" (usually spouses), intended to reflect the wishes of both parties. This is generally considered to be an extremely bad idea, and probably worse than having no Will at all. Often, the intent of a joint Will is to declare that each person would leave everything to the surviving partner, and in the event that both partners are victims of a common disaster, everything would go to their children. The problem is that it is unclear whether a surviving partner can revoke a joint Will and many messy legal cases have arisen as a result of this confusion. 

In short, do not make a joint Will, as there could be problems if either party changes their mind, or wishes to amend the Will.  There may also be problems if the surviving spouse tries to make any changes to a joint Will, as they may be bound to the original terms.  Furthermore, there is no reason to create a joint Will, as there is no disadvantage to drawing up a separate Will for each partner.

Although the MyWill™ question-and-answer wizard is applicable for most cases, there are circumstances where it is advisable to seek legal advice.  In particular:

• If you are a resident of Louisiana.
• If you are involved in a matrimonial dispute, or wish to disinherit your spouse or children.
• If you have a history of mental illness, or the question of your mental capacity may be raised in objection to the statements in the Will.
• If you own personal property or real estate in multiple countries.
• If you are under the age of adulthood.
• If you have complicated business investments (e.g. you are part owner of property or businesses where ownership may be challenged).
• If you are about to be married and are preparing a Will in contemplation of that marriage.
• If you have a large, complex estate and feel that you would benefit from some advice on estate planning and tax reduction.
• If you own a farm, as there may be significant estate planning implications.
• If you need to provide for long term medical care for a dependent.
• If you have any litigation pending which involve large sums of money or where a prison term is possible.
• If you think that somebody may challenge your Will in court or you have any other doubts about your situation.

In the above situations and in other more complex situations (the above is not an exhaustive list), it would not be advisable to rely on the output of the MyWill™ wizard as an accurate expression of your wishes.  Instead, you should consult with an attorney in these cases.

Yes.  A Power of Attorney (also known as a Power of Attorney for Finances) and Living Will (also known as a Power of Attorney for Health Care), are very important documents that should be created and updated at the same time as your Will.

This website allows you to create a Will, Expatriate Will, Power of Attorney and Living Will.

All of your information stored at USLegalWills.com is private, safe and secure.  Your information is so highly encrypted that nobody has access to this information other than yourself and your trusted Keyholders® using their randomly generated personal key.  Even the owners and administrators of USLegalWills.com are not able to access your private information due to the software design and encryption methods used.

We also provide 2-Factor Authentication (2FA) and recommend that all members turn on this feature within their account, to protect against unauthorized access. 2FA works by adding an additional layer of security to your online account. It requires an additional login credential – beyond just the UserID and Password – to gain account access. Getting that second credential requires access to something that belongs to you, such as a cell phone and/or a personal email address.

Note, however, that some services require temporary decryption of a member's documents as part of the operation of providing that service.  For example, if the member wants to have their Will reviewed by one of our legal professionals, or wants to have their documents printed and mailed to them, then the software will automatically decrypt these documents as part of the member's instructions to have these services performed.

This website uses state-of-the-art digital encryption and security technologies to protect your privacy and security.  All data passing from your computer to this website is authenticated and encrypted using 256-bit "SSL encryption".  This is the most advanced level of encryption available today, and it means that any information sent from your computer is scrambled in a way which makes it completely unintelligible if intercepted.  When you are on a secure section within the website (i.e. after you have logged in as a member), a padlock will appear on your web browser.  This is your assurance that the encryption is in place and that you are communicating across a secure link.

Furthermore, this website uses an industry standard high security streaming-encryption algorithm known as "RSA" to encrypt all of your information before it is stored online.  RSA is a public-key cryptosystem developed by MIT professors Ronald Rivest, Adi Shamir and Leonard Adleman. To give you a feeling for the level of security provided by this encryption, it has been estimated that with the most efficient algorithms known to date, it would take a computer operating at 1 million instructions per second over 300 quintillion years (that's 3 with 20 zeros behind it!) to break the encryption. That's several trillion times longer than the age of the Earth.

We also provide 2-Factor Authentication (2FA) and recommend that all members turn on this feature within their account, to protect against unauthorized access. 2FA works by adding an additional layer of security to your online account. It requires an additional login credential – beyond just the UserID and Password – to gain account access. Getting that second credential requires access to something that belongs to you, such as a cell phone and/or a personal email address.

All of our data is securely stored in a highly encrypted format on database servers in the USA. To protect against catastrophic data loss, daily backups are performed on each of our servers. Hence, if any one of our servers experienced technical difficulties, the data would not be at risk.

Furthermore, physical protection of our primary systems includes:

• Fire detection and fire suppression systems with dry pipe pre-action sprinkler systems
• N + 1 redundant power supplies, providing dual power feeds and backup batteries, water coolant systems and generators
• N + 1 redundant climate control, providing primary and backup chiller units, cooling towers, and water storage
• Local network operations center (NOC) for monitoring all data center operations
• 24x7 monitoring and support of network connection and server availability
• 24x7 uniformed guard service with interior and exterior closed-circuit television surveillance
• Electronic access at all data center entrances, including biometric hand scanners
• Electronic key management systems and individually keyed cabinets

As you can see, we take the security and privacy of all of our member information very seriously.

We are proud to offer a 30-day, no questions asked, 100% money back guarantee on all paid memberships.  If after joining as a member you do not feel that you have received valuable information and value for your money, we will gladly refund the cost of your membership.

Yes, we accept all major credit cards, as well as personal checks or money orders.  If you are making a purchase, you will be provided with further instructions regarding your options.

Absolutely.  Your credit card information is only used for purchases and it is never stored by us. Furthermore, all credit card purchases are through a secure gateway which protects all of your transactions by powerful Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption technology and Private Communication Technology (PCT) security standards supported by Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and other popular browsers. SSL encrypts your credit card number, name, address, and telephone number before they travel over the Internet, and this information is never stored, nor is it recorded by the secure site. This makes doing business over the Internet as secure as purchasing by telephone or handing your credit card to a waiter in a restaurant.

There is no requirement to use the services of a lawyer or notary public to prepare your own legal Last Will and Testament. The law that defines the legality of a Will is written specifically for each Province, State and Country, but in summary the law requires that the Will is written on a piece of paper and signed in the presence of two witnesses who cannot be beneficiaries to the Will. Lawyers can certainly help you to prepare your Will, but everybody has a legal right to write their own Will. If you create a document using our service, it must be printed, signed and witnessed according to our instructions, and then it becomes a legal Last Will and Testament.