Trust & Will vs LegalZoom: which one costs less for what you actually need

Trust & Will and LegalZoom are the two names most people compare first, and on the surface their prices sit close together. The real differences are in what each tier includes, what renews, and how long you have to change your mind. This comparison lines up like-for-like plans, then adds up three years under three realistic scenarios so you can see which one is cheaper for the way you will actually use it.

All prices and terms come from each company’s own pricing pages, help centre, refund policy and contracts, read on the date shown in the table below. We have not bought either yet.

Which is cheaper for a will?

It depends on whether you need more than the will itself.

	Trust & Will	LegalZoom
Cheapest will, one person	$199 (will plan)	$129 (Basic Will)
Includes health care directive and powers of attorney?	Yes	No, not on Basic
Cheapest will with those documents	$199	$149 (Pro Will)
Anything renews?	Only if you add the membership	Pro Will’s attorney plan renews at $25/month after 30 days

LegalZoom’s Basic Will is the cheapest will from either company, and if a will is genuinely all you want, it is a fair buy. But most adults also need a health care directive and a financial power of attorney: the documents that work while you are alive. LegalZoom only includes those from the Pro Will up, and the Pro Will comes with an attorney plan that starts billing monthly after 30 days unless you cancel it.

Trust & Will’s will plan includes the will, a living will, a power of attorney and a HIPAA authorization, and nothing renews unless you choose a membership. If you want the full set of documents and do not want to manage a cancellation, Trust & Will is the simpler buy even though its sticker price is higher.

For couples, the gap narrows: $299 at Trust & Will against $229 for LegalZoom’s Basic Will or $249 for its Pro Will.

Which is cheaper for a living trust?

LegalZoom, by a clear margin: $399 against $499 for one person, and $499 against $599 for a couple.

Both trust packages include the full document set: the trust, a pour-over will, health care directive, powers of attorney, HIPAA authorization, certification of trust and schedule of assets. LegalZoom’s Basic Trust has no attorney plan and nothing renews, which makes it LegalZoom’s best-value product.

What Trust & Will charges the extra for is the trust experience around the documents: a funding guide and a library of help articles on moving each kind of asset into the trust, published prices for a mobile notary with witnesses ($170 to $210) and a deed transfer partner ($140 per deed, plus recording fees), and an upgrade from will to trust that costs only $300, the difference between plans.

How do they handle couples’ trusts?

Differently, and it matters if you are married.

• LegalZoom: One joint living trust with two pour-over wills. LegalZoom’s FAQ notes that a joint trust needs your co-trustor’s consent for co-owned property.
• Trust & Will: the type depends on your state. In community property states it builds a joint trust; in separate property states it builds separate, mirror-image trusts that name each other as successor trustees. It does not offer a married person a separate trust in a community property state.

If you live in a separate property state and want each spouse to have their own trust, Trust & Will does that by default. If you want one joint trust everywhere, LegalZoom does that by default.

What keeps costing money after you buy?

Neither company charges anything ongoing unless you choose an extra. The extras are different in kind:

• Trust & Will’s membership is about editing. The free tier keeps your documents downloadable; the Essentials membership at $49/year is what lets you edit the plan later, plus a digital safe and one free shipment a year. The Pro membership at $299/year adds attorney support.
• LegalZoom’s attorney plans are about lawyers. The Pro Will’s 30-day plan renews at $25/month after 30 days; the Premium tiers’ year-long plan renews at $199/year attorney plan after year one. The plan includes attorney review and unlimited revisions of your LegalZoom documents, so it also covers editing.

Three years, three scenarios

Here is what a living trust for one person costs over three years at each company, depending on what you want from it. We use listed prices and assume renewals at the current price.

Scenario	Trust & Will	LegalZoom
Documents only, nothing extra	$499	$399
Documents plus the ability to edit for three years	$646 (trust plan plus Essentials each year)	$797 (Basic Trust plus the standalone attorney plan in years two and three)
Documents plus attorney access for three years	$1,396 (trust plan plus Pro membership each year)	$947 (Premium Trust, renewed twice)

The pattern is clear. If you want the documents and nothing else, LegalZoom is cheaper. If you expect to make your own edits, Trust & Will’s membership is the cheaper way to keep editing. If you want a lawyer on call, LegalZoom’s Premium tier is far cheaper than Trust & Will’s Pro membership.

(The editing scenario at LegalZoom assumes you buy its personal attorney plan, $199/year, or $119 every 6 months, when you need to edit; LegalZoom does not publish a price for a single revision outside the plan.)

What does it cost to finish the job?

A trust is only useful once your house and accounts are in its name, and both companies sell help with the house. The services differ in what they include:

	Trust & Will (through partner Bundle)	LegalZoom
Deed transfer into the trust	$140 per deed, plus recording fees	$249, plus state filing fees
What it includes	Deed preparation and recording; notarizing the deed costs extra	Title research, deed preparation and filing with the county recorder
Mobile notary for signing your plan	$170 to $210, with two witnesses	Not listed on its estate plan pages

Trust & Will’s deed service is cheaper per deed, and its help centre says Trust & Will earns a referral commission from the partner. LegalZoom’s includes title research, which is useful if you are not certain how your house is currently titled. Either way, bank and investment accounts are retitled by contacting each institution yourself, and that part costs nothing.

Which has the better refund policy?

Trust & Will, clearly. Its help-centre refund policy offers a 30-day satisfaction guarantee from purchase, with part of the price withheld if you used attorney, notary or deed services. Its terms of service describe refunds more narrowly, as discretionary, so ask inside the 30 days.

LegalZoom’s guarantee gives you up to 7 days after your estate plan is completed for an estate plan. Because the questionnaire produces documents quickly, that is roughly a week from the moment you finish. Its attorney plan fees are refundable within 30 days unless you have already had a consultation.

Which gives you more legal help?

LegalZoom, if you buy a Premium tier. You get a year of unlimited 30-minute consultations on new legal matters, attorney review and revisions of your LegalZoom documents, and an annual one-hour estate plan review, then a renewal at $199/year attorney plan after year one.

Trust & Will offers attorney support as a +$299 add-on, inside its Pro membership, or as a custom plan drafted by a matched independent attorney (From $1,499). The custom plan is the only option at either company where a lawyer actually drafts for your situation, and Trust & Will recommends it for special-needs children, large estates, businesses and complex blended families.

Do they work in every state?

LegalZoom Says its wills and trusts are accepted in all 50 states. Trust & Will serves all 50 states but does not offer trusts in Louisiana. If you live in Louisiana and want a trust, LegalZoom is the only one of the two that offers it; a Louisiana attorney is worth considering either way, because Louisiana’s succession law differs from every other state’s.

How do you renew and cancel?

Both auto-renew any membership or plan you add, and both let you cancel online. The difference is in the reminder. Trust & Will’s terms say it will email a renewal reminder before each renewal. LegalZoom’s Legal Plan Contract says it sends one about a week before billing as a courtesy only, and that a missed or unsent reminder does not excuse the charge. With LegalZoom, put the renewal date in your calendar on the day you buy.

So which should you choose?

• You want a living trust and nothing else: LegalZoom Basic Trust.
• You want a will with powers of attorney and no subscription to manage: Trust & Will’s will plan.
• You are married in a separate property state and want separate trusts: Trust & Will.
• You want a lawyer to call while you draft and in the year after: LegalZoom Premium.
• You expect to change your plan yourself over the next few years: Trust & Will with the Essentials membership.
• You want time to change your mind after the documents are ready: Trust & Will.

Before you buy either

1. List the documents you need: will, health care directive, financial power of attorney, trust.
2. Pick the cheapest tier at each company that includes all of them.
3. Decide whether you want editing (Trust & Will membership) or a lawyer (LegalZoom Premium), or neither.
4. Note the refund deadline and any renewal date on the day you buy.
5. Sign everything the way your state requires, in one sitting.
6. If you bought a trust, fund it the same month.