HelloStampedWills, trusts and the people you would leave behind
If something happens to you, who looks after your family?
Not a comfortable question, and not a complicated one once somebody explains the words. This page explains them, shows what is actually decided by what, and tells you the three or four things worth checking this week.
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If both parents die, who raises the children?
This is the question almost everybody arrives with, and the honest answer is more useful than the confident one you will read elsewhere.
A court appoints a guardian. You cannot appoint one yourself, and no document you sign makes the decision for the judge. What you can do — and it is worth a great deal, because it is the only direction a judge will ever have from you — is nominate somebody.
A nomination of a guardian may be made in the petition, at the hearing, or in a writing signed before or after the petition is filed, and the court is directed to give the nomination due weight.
“A nomination of a guardian under this article may be made in the petition for the appointment of the guardian or at the hearing on the petition or in a writing signed either before or after the petition for the appointment of the guardian is filed. The court shall give due weight to the nomination of a guardian of the person pursuant to Section 3043 of the Family Code.”
Deciding what is in the child's best interest, a California court may grant the petition, may grant another person's petition, or may find that the child does not need a guardian at all.
“Based on its determination of the child's best interest, the court may grant the petition, may grant another person's petition, or may find that the child does not need a guardianship and deny all the petitions.”
Read those two together and you have the whole of it. Your nomination carries real weight and it does not bind anybody. Pages that tell you your children “will go to” the person you name are making a promise on a court’s behalf that the court has not made.
Two more things about the same decision, and they are the ones people do not think to ask about. The first is that guardianship is not only about dying:
The reasons California lists for a parent being unable to care for a child are the parent's death, incapacity, military obligations, detention, or other reasons.
“A parent may not be able to care for the child because of the parent's death, incapacity, military obligations, detention, or other reasons.”
That is California’s own list, on California’s own form. For most American families the fourth word on it is abstract. For a household living here on a visa it is not, and it is why a nomination that can take effect on something short of death is worth knowing about.
A written nomination may say that it takes effect only when a specified event happens, including the parent's later legal incapacity, detention, or death.
“The nomination is effective when made, except that a written nomination may provide that the nomination takes effect only when a specified event or events, including the parent's later legal incapacity, detention, or death, has occurred.”
And one thing that stops a lot of families naming anybody at all. When the relatives you would choose are themselves on visas, or waiting on something, it is natural to assume there is no point writing their name down. California has answered that twice, in two different codes:
In California, where the person nominated as guardian is a relative, their immigration status on its own does not make them unsuitable.
“If the nominee is a relative, the nominee's immigration status alone shall not constitute unsuitability.”
The same rule is written into California's custody statute: immigration status does not disqualify a parent, legal guardian or relative from receiving custody.
“The immigration status of a parent, legal guardian, or relative shall not disqualify the parent, legal guardian, or relative from receiving custody under subdivision (a).”
Read the word doing the work in the first one: alone. Status cannot be the reason on its own, which is not the same as it counting for nothing anywhere. And this is California’s rule — we have not checked the other forty-nine. What it does mean is that ruling somebody out before asking is a decision made on an assumption, and in at least one state that assumption is wrong by statute.
Where your things actually go
Four things happen at once, and a will is only in charge of the last one. This is the part almost nobody is told.
- You own401(k), IRA, life insuranceIt goes toThe person named on the form
These pass to whoever is named on the account, directly. The will never touches them, whatever it says.
Your will does not reach this
- You ownA home or account owned with somebodyIt goes toThe other owner
How the property is titled decides this, and whether that option exists at all is set by your state rather than by federal law.
Your will does not reach this
- You ownProperty in IndiaIt goes toIndian succession law
A flat in India is not governed by an American document simply because it was written by somebody living in America. There is no United States estate or gift tax treaty with India on the IRS's published list.
Your will does not reach this
- You ownEverything else you own aloneIt goes toYour will, through probate
This is the part a will actually governs. With no will, your state's formula decides who inherits, and a court decides who raises any children.
Your will decides this
A will and a trust, side by side
What each one does, question by question. Not which one you should have — that depends on things this page cannot see, and the last question below says exactly what they are.
What is it?
- A will
- A document saying who should receive what you own, carried out under a court's supervision after you die.
- A trust
- An arrangement where somebody holds property under written rules for somebody else's benefit, with a named person in charge of following them.
When does it start working?
- A will
- Only after you die. Until then it does nothing at all.
- A trust
- As soon as it is set up and property has been transferred into it, and it carries on afterwards.
Does it go through probate?
- A will
- Yes. Probate is the court process a will is carried out through — it is not a penalty attached to having one.
- A trust
- Property actually transferred into a trust does not pass through probate. Property never transferred in is not in the trust and does.
Does it reduce estate tax?
- A will
- No.
- A trust
- No — not a revocable one. The IRS lists trusts among the things a gross estate may consist of. This is the claim most often blurred by people selling them.
Can it say who raises my children?
- A will
- Yes — this is where a guardian is nominated, and a California court is directed to give that nomination due weight.
- A trust
- No. A guardian is nominated in a will, which is why trust packages are sold with a will alongside them.
Does it help if I am alive but cannot decide things?
- A will
- No. A will does nothing until death.
- A trust
- A trust can keep working, because somebody else is already in charge of what is in it. For everything outside it, that is what a power of attorney and a healthcare directive are for — and a power of attorney ends at death, where a will begins.
What does it not reach?
- A will
- Anything with somebody named on it — a 401(k), an IRA, life insurance — and anything owned jointly. Those pass without it.
- A trust
- Anything never transferred into it. Paying for the document and never moving anything in is the most common expensive mistake in this subject.
Does everyone need one?
- A will
- This page will not answer that. What it turns on: which state you live in, what you own, who is already named on your accounts, and whether you have children under 18.
- A trust
- Nor that. It turns on the same things, plus whether avoiding probate is worth the cost and the work of transferring things in — which is a judgement about your situation, not a fact about trusts.
The $60,000 question nobody has mentioned to you
The one thing on this page that is specific to being an immigrant, and the one with the most money attached to it.
You already know that your immigration status is not the same thing as your tax residency — the substantial presence test decides the second one and has nothing to do with the first. Estate tax runs on neither. It runs on domicile, which is a third test again, and it is the one nobody separates from the other two.
Whether somebody counts as a nonresident for United States estate tax is decided by their domicile at the time of death — not by their citizenship, and not by which visa they held.
“Whether a decedent was a nonresident of the United States for U.S. estate tax purposes is determined based on the decedent's domicile at the time of death.”
Here is why the word is worth this much of your attention. These are the two numbers it chooses between:
An estate of somebody who dies during 2026 has a basic exclusion amount of $15,000,000, up from $13,990,000 for a death in 2025.
“Estates of decedents who die during 2026 have a basic exclusion amount of $15,000,000, up from a total of $13,990,000 for estates of decedents who died in 2025.”
Where the person who died was not a United States citizen and not a resident, the estate must file a return once the date-of-death value of their US-situated assets, with the gift tax specific exemption and adjusted taxable gifts, exceeds $60,000.
“If the date of death value of the decedent's U.S.-situated assets, together with the gift tax specific exemption and the amount of the adjusted taxable gifts, exceeds the filing threshold of $60,000, the executor must file a Form 706-NA for the decedent's estate.”
Both of those are real and current. Which one applies to a given family is decided by domicile at the time of death — not by citizenship, not by which visa was in the passport. And it matters most for the one thing an immigrant family here usually cannot move:
For somebody who was not a citizen and not a resident, US-situated property includes real estate in the United States, tangible property located there, and certain intangible property such as US marketable securities.
“U.S. real estate; All tangible property located in the United States; Certain intangible property, such as U.S. marketable securities; Debt obligations of a U.S. person; A U.S. trade or business, and bank accounts used in connection with a U.S. trade or business”
It is also worth knowing what is not on that list, because the picture is less alarming than it first looks for a family whose American assets are a salary account and a life insurance policy:
Property not situated in the United States includes securities generating portfolio interest, bank accounts not used in connection with a US trade or business, and certain life insurance proceeds.
“securities that generate portfolio interest, bank accounts not used in connection with a U.S. trade or business, and certain life insurance proceeds”
One more, and it is six words in the middle of an ordinary IRS sentence. Every American is told that whatever passes to a surviving husband or wife is free of estate tax. Read the condition attached to it:
The deduction for property passing to a surviving spouse is written to apply where that spouse is a United States citizen.
“In addition to the above deductions, charitable contributions and the value of certain property passing to a surviving spouse who is a U.S. citizen may be deductible.”
“Who is a U.S. citizen” is carrying that entire sentence. In this community one spouse naturalising years before the other is completely ordinary, which means the condition fails in exactly the households least likely to have heard of it. A qualified domestic trust is the mechanism that exists for that case; setting one up is drafting work and this page will not attempt it. There is also a much larger annual gift allowance in the other direction, which is the rare rule here that is more generous rather than less:
The annual exclusion for gifts to a spouse who is not a United States citizen is $194,000 for 2026, up $4,000 from 2025.
“However, the annual exclusion for gifts to a spouse who is not a citizen of the United States increases to $194,000 for calendar year 2026, up $4,000 from calendar year 2025.”
The ordinary annual exclusion for gifts remains $19,000 for 2026.
“For tax year 2026, the annual exclusion for gifts remains at $19,000.”
Finally, the thing to check for yourself. Some countries have a treaty with the United States that changes how their residents are taxed on American assets. Here is the list the IRS publishes — read it and see whether India is on it:
The Internal Revenue Service lists the countries whose treaties with the United States carry estate or gift tax provisions: Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, South Africa, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
“Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, South Africa, Switzerland, United Kingdom”
It is not. The 1989 India–United States tax treaty is an incometax treaty and does not cover this. We are not going to tell you what that means for your family, because we cannot see your family — but it is the single best question to walk into a tax attorney’s office holding.
What is true about you?
Tick anything that applies and the list below gets shorter. Tick nothing and you get all of it — you should not have to tell a website about your marriage to find out what matters.
Things you can go and check
Look up who is named on your 401(k), IRA and life insurance
These pass to the person named on the form. A will does not reach them. Most people filled these in on their first day at a job, before a marriage or a child, and have not opened them since — and the plan will never prompt you.
If you are married and named somebody other than your spouse, check whether the consent is on file
Federal law makes that election ineffective without the spouse's own written consent, acknowledging its effect, witnessed by a plan representative or a notary. Naming a parent in India on a 401(k) is ordinary and the form accepts it silently.
Check whether your employer's benefits include a legal plan
Many large US employers offer one as a payroll deduction at open enrollment, and it commonly covers a will, a healthcare directive and a power of attorney. It is one of the least-used benefits there is. What it covers varies by employer, and a living trust is frequently not included.
Find out how many witnesses your own state requires, and who may not be one
This page will not tell you, and that is deliberate: the number differs between states and a document signed to the wrong rule can fail entirely. It is exactly what the service or attorney you use is for, and it is a fair question to ask them before you pay.
Decide who would raise your children, and ask them first
A court is directed to give a parent's nomination due weight. It is the only direction a judge will ever have from you. Ask the person before you write their name down — the conversation is the part that makes it real, and somebody discovering it afterwards can decline.
Name somebody second, in case the first person cannot
People move, fall ill, and are sometimes not in the country. A nomination can also be written to take effect on an event short of death, including a parent's incapacity or detention.
Ask whether a relative's immigration status matters where you live
California says in two separate statutes that a relative's immigration status on its own does not make them unsuitable as a guardian, and does not disqualify them from custody. That is California's rule, and the word doing the work is “alone” — so it is worth asking what your own state says rather than assuming the answer either way.
Separate the question of who raises them from who manages money for them
They are two roles and can be two people. A guardianship of the person ends when the child turns 18; what happens to money held for a child, and at what age it reaches them outright, is a different decision with different answers.
Look at how your home is actually titled
How a property is held decides whether a will reaches it at all. It is also United States property on the IRS's own list of what counts as US-situated — which is what makes the domicile question below expensive rather than theoretical.
Write down what you still hold in India, and who is named on each of it
Bank accounts, a flat, insurance, mutual funds, an EPF balance. Nominations on Indian accounts and beneficiary designations on US ones are different systems with different consequences, and nobody holds a list of both but you.
Write down where everything is, and tell one person where that list lives
Which bank, which insurer, which employer holds the retirement account, where the passports and the property papers are. A document nobody can find does not do its job, and a family that has to reconstruct this from scratch does it in the worst week of their lives.
Questions this page cannot answer
These turn on facts about you that no website can see. They are written out so you can take them to somebody who can answer them, rather than being told to “consult an attorney” and left to work out what about.
Am I domiciled in the United States for estate tax?
The exclusion is $15,000,000 for somebody who dies domiciled here in 2026, and the filing threshold is $60,000 of US-situated assets for somebody who is not a citizen and not a resident. The IRS decides which applies by domicile at the time of death — not by citizenship and not by visa. It is a facts-and-circumstances question, no page can answer it from a form, and it is worth asking a tax attorney directly.
Does the marital deduction apply if my husband or wife is not a citizen?
The deduction for property passing to a surviving spouse is written for a spouse who is a US citizen. A qualified domestic trust is the mechanism that exists for the case where they are not, and setting one up is drafting work — this page will not attempt it. There is also a separate annual exclusion for gifts to a non-citizen spouse, $194,000 for 2026 against the ordinary $19,000.
Who inherits my property in India if I leave no will there?
India runs more than one set of intestate succession rules and which applies depends on the family's religion, so there is no single answer to quote. We are not publishing the Indian statutes until we can read them at the Government of India's own site rather than in somebody's summary — India Code is mid-migration to a new address and is serving nothing this week, so that work is booked. Until it lands this is a question for a lawyer in India.
Do I need a separate will for my Indian assets, and will one revoke the other?
A will that opens by revoking all previous wills can wipe out a will made in the other country. Practitioners who work across both countries treat this as a standard trap and draft around it. It needs somebody coordinating both documents rather than two services that do not know about each other.
Who would look after the children between the moment and the hearing?
A guardian is appointed by a court, and the court sits afterwards. The gap is real and short and nobody plans for it. Asking your named guardian how they would physically reach your children, and who locally could hold things for a few days, is a more useful conversation than any document.
The ten words, in plain English
Nobody is born knowing these. Each one says what the thing is, and then the bit people get wrong.
- Will
- A document saying who should receive the things you own, which takes effect after you die and is carried out under a court's supervision.It only reaches the things that are yours alone and have nobody else named on them. Retirement accounts, life insurance and jointly-owned property usually pass without it.
- Probate
- The court process that moves what somebody owned into the hands of the people entitled to it, checking the will is genuine and the debts are paid on the way.It is a process, not a penalty. No court or statute in the United States publishes what it costs or how long it takes — every figure you will read comes from somebody selling you the alternative.
- Intestate
- Dying without a valid will. The state you live in then has a formula deciding who inherits.The formula is rarely what people assume. In California a surviving spouse takes a third of the deceased's separate property where there is more than one child — not all of it.
- Beneficiary
- The person named on an account or a policy to receive it when you die — on a 401(k), an IRA, or life insurance.This name beats your will. Whatever the will says, the money goes to whoever is on the form, and most people last looked at that form on their first day at a job.
- Executor
- The person you name to carry out the will — gathering what you owned, paying what you owed, and passing on the rest.It is administrative work over months, not an honour. Naming somebody who lives in another country makes every step of it slower.
- Guardian
- The adult a court appoints to raise a child whose parents cannot. You can tell the court who you would choose.Naming somebody is a nomination, not an appointment. A California court is directed to give it due weight, and may still grant another person's petition if it decides that is in the child's best interest.
- Trust
- An arrangement where somebody holds property under written rules for somebody else's benefit — a box with instructions attached, and a named person in charge of following them.A trust only governs what has actually been put into it. Paying for the document and never transferring anything in is the most common and most expensive mistake in this whole subject.
- Trustee
- The person or company in charge of a trust, obliged to follow its rules and to act for the people it was set up for.Different job from an executor, and often a much longer one — a trust set up for a young child can run for twenty years.
- Power of attorney
- A document letting somebody act for you — signing, banking, dealing with property — while you are alive. A durable one keeps working if you become unable to make decisions.It ends the moment you die. In California the statute lists death of the principal as one of the events that terminates it, so it is no use at all for handling an estate.
- Advance healthcare directive
- A document naming who should make medical decisions for you if you cannot, and saying what treatment you would want.Without one, somebody may have to go to court to get permission to decide for you — which takes time nobody has in an emergency.
Three things this page will not do
It will not recommend a will, or a trust, or anything else.
Whether either helps you turns on your state, what you own, who is named on your accounts, whether your husband or wife is a citizen, and whether you are domiciled here. We can see none of that. What we can do is show you the rules and tell you which questions to ask, which is what the list above is.
It will not give you wording to copy.
No sample clause, no template, nothing to download. A sentence of legal language on a page like this becomes somebody’s real will — signed alone, in a state whose rules it was not written for. That is a worse outcome than having no document, because the family finds out afterwards.
It will not tell you your own state’s signing rules.
How many witnesses, whether they may inherit, whether a notary is needed — these differ between states, and a document signed to the wrong rule can fail completely. We have not verified fifty states and will not pretend otherwise. Confirming yours is exactly what the service or the attorney you use is for, and it is a fair question to ask them before you pay.
What that refusal looks like in practice: below are two states’ rules on the same question, so you can see how far apart they sit.
In California a will must be witnessed by at least two people who are present at the same time, who witness either the signing or the testator's acknowledgment of it, and who understand that what they are signing is that person's will.
“at least two persons each of whom (A) being present at the same time, witnessed either the signing of the will or the testator's acknowledgment … (B) understand that the instrument they sign is the testator's will”
Florida allows a summary administration where the estate subject to administration in the state, less property exempt from creditors' claims, does not exceed $75,000 — or where the person has been dead for more than 2 years.
“the value of the entire estate subject to administration in this state, less the value of property exempt from the claims of creditors, does not exceed $75,000 … the decedent has been dead for more than 2 years”
California also has something worth knowing if you are worried you have already got this wrong, and almost nobody writes about it — because the people writing are selling the service that prevents the problem:
A California will that was not executed in compliance with the witnessing rule is treated as if it had been, where the person putting it forward establishes by clear and convincing evidence that the deceased intended the document to be their will.
“If a will was not executed in compliance with paragraph (1), the will shall be treated as if it was executed in compliance with that paragraph if the proponent of the will establishes by clear and convincing evidence that”
What happens if you do nothing
Every state has a formula. Here is one state’s, as an example of the shape — not as an answer for anybody who does not live there.
The assumption almost everybody makes is that a husband or wife simply inherits everything. In California that is not what the statute says once there are children:
Where somebody dies in California without a will, the surviving spouse takes one-half of the deceased's separate property where the deceased leaves only one child, or the issue of one deceased child.
“The decedent leaves only one child or the issue of one deceased child”
The surviving spouse takes one-third of the separate property where the deceased leaves more than one child.
“The decedent leaves more than one child”
We are showing you one state deliberately. Three would invite you to guess where yours falls between them, and the honest position is that we do not know yours — only that it has one and that it is probably not what you assumed.
The documents that are not a will
A will is for after you die. The two documents people most often wish they had are for while they are alive.
A power of attorneylets somebody act for you — banking, signing, dealing with property — if you cannot. A healthcare directive names who decides your medical care and says what you would want. Without them, somebody may have to go to court for permission, at exactly the moment nobody has time for a court.
The thing to know about a power of attorney is when it stops:
A California power of attorney ends on the death of the principal, except as to specific authority a statute permits to be exercised after death.
“Death of the principal, except as to specific authority permitted by statute to be exercised after the principal's death”
So it is no use at all for handling an estate, and a will is no use at all for the years in which somebody is alive and cannot act. They are different jobs and most people who have done one have not done the other.
One more, about guardianship, that separates two decisions parents tend to merge:
A California guardianship of the person automatically ends when the child reaches age 18, or earlier if certain other events happen first.
“A guardianship of the person automatically terminates (ends) when the child reaches age 18 or one of the following events occurs before the child reaches age 18:”
How people actually get this done
Nobody paid to be here, no link is affiliated, and nothing below is ranked. Every fact was read on the company’s own page on the date shown, and every one of them is quoted saying what it is not.
Start here: something you may already have
Your employer's legal plan
Your employer's legal plan’s own page- What you get
- Commonly a will, a healthcare directive and a financial power of attorney, prepared either online or with a network attorney.
- Cost
- A monthly payroll deduction set by your employer, so there is no single price to quote. Check your own benefits portal.
- Does a lawyer read your document?
- Yes, where you use a network attorney — MetLife Legal Plans describes “no waiting periods, deductibles, copays, or claims forms when using a network attorney”.
“The plan also includes unlimited initial consultations with an attorney, as long as it's not an excluded matter.”
Worth checking before you pay for anything else. What is covered is set by your employer rather than by the plan provider, so ask your benefits team specifically whether a living trust is included — plans differ on that, and it is the item most likely to be outside the benefit. It can usually only be joined at open enrollment.
Doing it yourself, online
These produce a document. Signing it correctly is still yours to get right, and the rules for that are your state’s.
FreeWill
FreeWill’s own page- What you get
- A will, an advance healthcare directive, a durable financial power of attorney and beneficiary designations. California residents are also offered a revocable living trust.
- Cost
- Free.
- Who is paying
- Paid for by charities. In its own words: “We are supported by nonprofits. Over 2,400 nonprofits partner with us to ensure our estate planning tools are free for everyone,” and “One in six users include a charity in their will.” Disclosed, and not neutral — the business reason it exists is to be offered a bequest.
- Does a lawyer read your document?
- No. It says so, and it also says when to stop: “If you have a particularly large or complicated estate, you may want to have your will drafted by an attorney instead.”
“any property of yours that is located abroad will have to be addressed in a separate will that is valid for the region in which that property is located”
The only one of these services that says anything at all about property outside the United States, and what it says is the thing this audience most needs to hear. Every other service on this list is simply silent on the question — which is silence, not reassurance.
Quicken WillMaker & Trust (Nolo)
Quicken WillMaker & Trust (Nolo)’s own page- What you get
- Wills, living trusts, healthcare directives, durable powers of attorney, final arrangements and letters to survivors, as downloadable software.
- Cost
- $109, $149 or $219 depending on the tier, with “Access for one year from the date of purchase, with an option to extend annually for $39.99.”
- Does a lawyer read your document?
- No. It states that what it provides “is not legal advice, does not constitute a lawyer referral service”.
“Unlike the other states' laws, Louisiana law is derived from the Napoleonic code. This makes Louisiana's estate planning laws substantially different from the laws of the rest of the country, and WillMaker doesn't address Louisiana's unique requirements.”
Read its residence rule carefully, because it is a domicile test and it looks like an immigration test. It says “If your permanent residence is outside the United States, you should not use WillMaker” — and immediately adds that somebody out of the country temporarily “for school or a job” probably still has ties to a state that make it their legal residence. A student or worker living here is the person it is for; somebody who has already moved back is not.
Trust & Will
Trust & Will’s own page- What you get
- A will plan (will, HIPAA authorisation, living will, power of attorney) or a trust plan, which adds a revocable living trust, a certification of trust, a schedule of assets and a trust funding guide.
- Cost
- Will plan “starting at $199”, trust plan “starting at $499”, one-time rather than a subscription. An optional membership is $49 a year and optional attorney support is a further $299.
- Does a lawyer read your document?
- Not unless you buy it. The base plans are “built by attorneys and customized by you” — which describes the template, not a review of your document. Individual attorney support is the $299 add-on.
“Trust & Will is an online service providing legal forms and information. We are not a law firm, we do not provide legal advice, and the online forms we provide are not a substitute for the advice or services of an attorney.”
It tells you to “Sign and notarize the documents upon receiving or downloading” — the signing is still yours to get right, and the rules for it are your state's.
LegalZoom
LegalZoom’s own page- What you get
- A will bundle (will, healthcare directive, financial power of attorney, HIPAA authorisation) or a trust bundle, which adds a living trust, a pour-over will, a certificate of trust and a schedule of assets.
- Cost
- Wills at $99 for one person or $199 for two, $249 with attorney access; trusts at $399, or $549 with attorney access.
- Does a lawyer read your document?
- Only on the higher tiers, and read what it buys: “Telephone consultations with a participating firm, during normal business hours, of up to one half (1/2) hour each, limited to one consultation for each new legal matter.” That is a phone call, not a line-by-line review.
“LegalZoom is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice, except where authorized through its subsidiary law firm LZ Legal Services, LLC.”
Rocket Lawyer
Rocket Lawyer’s own page- What you get
- Wills, living trusts, durable powers of attorney and living wills, as part of a membership rather than a one-off purchase.
- Cost
- A membership: $149, $249 or $349 a year depending on the tier. Read the current price on the day you buy — several 2026-dated review articles quote figures that do not match its own pricing page.
- Does a lawyer read your document?
- It offers attorney consultations as a membership feature. It is explicit that it “is not a ‘lawyer referral service’… does not provide legal or tax advice or representation (except in certain jurisdictions)”.
“Rocket Lawyer is not a 'lawyer referral service,' 'accountant referral service,' accounting firm, or law firm, does not provide legal or tax advice or representation (except in certain jurisdictions).”
Alone among these it builds a Louisiana will against that state's own civil code, where most of the others exclude Louisiana outright.
When it is worth paying somebody
An attorney
An attorney’s own page- What you get
- Documents drafted for your situation, and — the part that matters here — somebody who can answer the questions no page can: domicile, a non-citizen spouse, a qualified domestic trust, and assets in two countries.
- Cost
- There is no trustworthy published figure. No bar association or government body surveys it, and the ranges quoted online come either from law firms advertising or from companies selling the alternative. Ask for a fixed quote before any work starts; for a straightforward will it is a fair question and a firm that will not answer it has told you something.
- Does a lawyer read your document?
- By definition.
“The information provided is self-reported by Fellows and not verified or guaranteed by ACTEC.”
Two non-commercial ways to find one: your state bar's own lawyer referral service, and the ACTEC directory of trust and estate specialists, whose fellows are peer-elected with “more than 10 years of experience in the active practice of probate and trust law or estate planning”. Note ACTEC's own caveat above — it is an honour, not an examination, and the listings are self-reported.
If somebody offers you a free seminar about trusts
There is a known scam in this exact subject, it targets people who are worried about their families, and the California Attorney General describes it better than we could.
The California Attorney General warns that operators may offer seminars or other free information about trusts, wills, taxes, or a need to update an existing trust.
“They may offer seminars or other “free” information about trusts, wills, taxes, or the need to update an existing trust.”
The Attorney General warns that they may use scare tactics to make somebody believe their existing investments are unsafe, or that they can earn higher interest.
“They may use scare tactics to make you believe your existing investments are unsafe or that they can help you earn higher interest.”
The Attorney General warns that the people selling may call themselves trust advisors, financial experts or senior estate planners, or pose as attorneys or paralegals.
“Scammers may call themselves trust advisors, financial experts, senior estate planners, or similar titles, or pose as attorneys or paralegals, to get you to trust them.”
The Attorney General's advice is to watch out for companies that sell trusts and also try to sell annuities or other investments.
“Watch out for companies that sell trusts and also try to sell you annuities or other investments.”
The last one is the tell that travels furthest. It is not the trust that gives it away — it is the second product. Somebody who has read that sentence recognises the pattern whether they meet it at a hotel seminar, in a temple car park, or in a community WhatsApp group.
And the reason the pitch works at all is a genuine confusion about what a trust does. It does keep things out of probate. It does not take them out of the taxable estate:
The property counted in a deceased person's gross estate may include trusts, alongside cash and securities, real estate, insurance, annuities and business interests.
“The includible property may consist of cash and securities, real estate, insurance, trusts, annuities, business interests and other assets.”
What is missing from this page
The Indian half. What happens to a flat in Hyderabad, who inherits under Indian law when there is no will, and the difference between a “nominee” on an Indian account and the person who actually inherits — all of that is real, all of it matters to the families reading this, and none of it is here yet.
The reason is dull and temporary: India Code, the Government of India’s own statute library, is in the middle of moving to a new address, and neither the old site nor the new one is serving the Acts this week. We are not willing to publish Indian law quoted from a law firm’s summary while every other line on this page comes from the government that wrote it.
So it is booked rather than dropped, and it should be a short wait. Until then it is a question for a lawyer in India, and the second-best thing we can do is tell you plainly that we do not know it yet rather than quietly leaving the subject out.
Everything here is general information with its source attached, not advice about your situation. We are not a law firm and nobody here is your lawyer. Where a question turns on facts we cannot see, this page says so and says which facts — that is more useful than a warning at the bottom, which is why there is only one of those and this is it.