Will PrepSM
Write Your Last Will and Testament
Create a legal Will that sets out your wishes and makes things easier for those you care about.
Draft a Power of Attorney for Finances
Give permission to a loved one or trusted advisor to handle your financial affairs.
Create a Healthcare Directive
Make your end of life preferences known if you are no longer able to express them.
Wills and Estate Documents
Without a will, your estate will be distributed according to the law. This can be a complex, time-consuming process requiring your family to hire a lawyer. Will PrepSM, an online document preparation system known as LawAssure, simplifies the work of preparing a legal will. Will PrepSM asks you a series of easy-to-answer questions, each with helpful explanations and examples. Based on your responses, our system drafts and tailors the required clauses to create a document suitable for your circumstances.
Your documents will remain stored in your My Documents folder, making them easily accessible when you want to make changes.
Once you are satisfied with your documents, you should print and sign your documents and then share and store them as appropriate. We recommend that a scanned copy be stored in Tenzing®.
Tips to Get Started
- What property should you include in your will?
- Who will inherit your property?
- If you have children under the age of 18, who will serve as a guardian to raise your children in the unlikely event that the other parent cannot?
- Who will serve as the executor of your will?
- Select impartial witnesses who are unrelated to the beneficiaries and executor.
- If there is more that you want to express in writing (e.g., how to distribute specific personal items), write your wishes in a letter to be attached to your will.
Consider where to store your will in a safe place that can be easily accessed by your executor and family. A scan of your will can also be easily stored in Tenzing®. - Review your will every few years, or after a major life event such as a birth, death or divorce.
- All our documents are created by top attorneys and are periodically reviewed and updated in accordance with changes in the law, giving you peace of mind that comes with knowing that your document is of the highest quality and legally sound.
Available Legal Documents
Will: A will takes effect when a person dies. It is a legal, written document that directs how a person’s assets should be distributed after death, which is crucial if the assets are being used to support dependants.
Power of Attorney: A POA takes affect while you are alive. It is a legal, written document that gives someone else the right to act on your behalf in specific situations. For example, you can name someone to make financial decisions for you with a continuing power of attorney for property. And you can name someone to manage your personal care such as where you live, what you eat or what medical care you will receive if you get sick or injured.
Health Care Directive: A health care directive takes affect while you are alive. Also known as a living will, personal directive, advance directive, or advance decision, it is a legal document in which you specify what actions should be taken for your health if you are no longer able to make decisions for yourself because of illness or incapacity.
What is the difference between a Will and a Trust?
A will is a document that directs who will receive your property after your death, and it appoints a legal representative (often called an executor) to carry out your wishes. In contrast, a trust can be used to begin distributing property before death, at death, or afterwards. Some trusts (called testamentary trusts) can be created in wills, to transfer assets upon your death into a trust to be administered for the benefit of trust beneficiaries. Other trusts (called living trusts) can be created during your lifetime, are generally unaffected by your death and are not subject to any court administration or supervision. A living trust requires that you (trustor) transfer assets to a trusted individual or institution (trustee), who receives, administers and distributes the trust property for others (called beneficiaries). In many instances, one set of beneficiaries receive income from the living trust during their lifetimes, and another set of beneficiaries receive trust income and/or principal after the first set of beneficiaries pass away.
Why doesn’t Everest Will PrepSM offer a Living Trust?
There are several reasons that Everest Will PrepSM does not offer an online option for a living trust. These include:
- Creating a living trust is a multi-step process that involves more than simply developing a trust document. Assets must be specifically and adequately identified and then transferred into the trust, which requires additional paperwork to be prepared and then filed with local and state authorities (e.g., deeds for homes must be filed at county courthouses, and titles for vehicles must be properly updated with each state’s department of motor vehicles). Trusts created through an online process are not able to address the extensive work that is still required even after completion of the initial legal document.
- A living trust must be continually maintained as ownership of assets change (e.g., purchases and sales of homes, cars and the like). The possibility for mistakes in transfer or maintenance could result in not honoring your intentions.
- A separate tax return must be prepared and filed for each living trust, creating additional expense and administration.
- A major reason people have adopted living trusts in the past (to avoid federal estate taxes) no longer applies to most people as the federal estate tax exemption has increased (over $23 million for couples in 2020).
For these and other reasons, Everest believes you are best served by engaging an attorney to assist you with the decision of whether the creation of a living trust is the best solution for your individual situation. This will help ensure that a living trust best fits your objectives and, if so, that the process is completed properly from start to finish.
***** IMPORTANT ******
If your family situation involves a common-law relationship, blended family, or multiple marriages you should consult a lawyer who will provide guidance on how your individual circumstances could affect the distribution of assets in a will. Consulting a lawyer is the safest way to avoid any challenges to the wishes outlined in your will.
FAQs for Will Prep℠
General Information
What makes Everest’s LawAssure different from other online legal services?
Most online legal services provide you with ‘off-the-shelf’ or ‘flat form’ legal documents that will be relatively inflexible to your particular circumstances. Our documents ask you a series of easy-to-answer questions each with helpful explanations and often, examples. Based on your responses, our system drafts and tailors the required clauses to create a document suitable for your circumstances.
Each document has a set of comprehensive, yet easy to understand Guidance Notes providing an overview of the document, things you need to consider like the jurisdiction of the document, explanations of any terms you may not understand, and signing and witnessing the documents.
All LawAssure documents and letters are created by certified lawyers and frequently reviewed and updated in accordance with changes in the law, giving you peace of mind that comes with knowing that your document is of the highest quality and legally sound.
Who should act as a witness to a will?
Any person can act as a witness to your will, but you should select someone who isn’t a beneficiary to avoid any conflict of interest. The technical term is a “disinterested witness.” Some states/provinces require two or more witnesses.
Should my will be notarized?
Not all states/provinces require a will to be notarized, but some do. We suggest you get your will notarized. You may also want to have your witnesses sign what’s called a “self-proving affidavit” in the presence of a notary. This affidavit can speed up the probate process because your witnesses likely won’t be called into court by a judge to validate their signatures and the authenticity of the will.
How often does a will need to be updated?
You may never need to update your will, or you may choose to update it regularly. The decision is yours. Remember, the only version of your will that matters is the most current, valid will in existence at the time of your death.
With that in mind, you may want to revisit your will when a major life change occurs, such as marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, the death of a beneficiary or executor, a significant purchase or inheritance. We suggest you review your will every two or three years to be safe.
Who should I name as my executor?
You can name your spouse, an adult child, or another trusted friend or relative as your executor. If your affairs are complicated, you will want to consider using a lawyer to create your will and possibly even serve as your executor.
Using LawAssure Planning Tool
Which web browser do I need?
The website is designed to work in all current versions of Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Chrome and Safari.
Why doesn’t the document open in my browser?
This may be because of the compatibility view settings in your web browser. Compatibility settings are usually found in the Tools section of your web browser.
What if I don’t understand what a question means?
Next to each question is a small ‘?’ icon that will open up a small pop-up window containing an explanation of the question and in some cases will provide an example. You can hide this explanation by again clicking once on the icon.
What if I can’t figure out why the “progress bar” shows a Red section?
Return to that section of the document and scroll all the way down to see if there was a question you failed to answer. This is the most common reason a section will show red/incomplete in the “progress bar.”
How do I print my document?
Open the ‘My Documents’ section of the website and locate the folder containing the document. Displayed on the right hand side should be all the documents contained within the folder you have opened. Select ‘Print Preview’ to open the document as a PDF or MS Word file which you can either save or print.
How often can I use the LawAssure tool?
There is no limit on how often you use the LawAssure planning tool to ensure your documents are accurate and current.
Support and Assistance
For immediate help, reach out to an Everest advisor.
