Is Trust & Will legit? What you are actually signing up for

“Is it legit?” usually means three different worries at once: is this a real company, will the documents actually work, and will it keep charging me. For Trust & Will the short answers are yes, yes if you sign them properly, and only if you add a membership. The longer answers are in its terms of service and help centre, which are more revealing than any star rating. This page reads them for you.

Everything below is taken from Trust & Will’s own terms of service, help centre and plan pages, read on the date shown in the facts table at the end. We have not bought a plan.

Is Trust & Will a real company?

Yes. Trust & Will is an established online estate planning company that sells will-based and trust-based plans across the 50 states, works with financial advisors and nonprofits through separate professional products, and publishes a detailed help centre covering everything from signing to funding a trust. Its plan pages say it has helped over a million people; that is the company’s own figure.

What it is not is a law firm. Every help-centre page carries the same line: Not a law firm; does not give legal advice. That is normal for online estate planning services, and it matters for one reason: unless you buy an attorney service, nobody is giving you legal advice about your situation. The documents are templates designed by attorneys and filled in from your answers.

Are Trust & Will documents legally valid?

They can be, and whether they are is up to you. Trust & Will says its plans are attorney-built and state-specific, and its FAQ says you make them legally binding by signing and notarizing them after you receive or download them.

The help centre’s signing guide is the most important page on the site. In short:

• The first page of each document lists the signing requirements for your state. Start there.
• HIPAA forms need only your signature. The other key documents typically need your signature, two witnesses and a notary, though the exact rule varies by state; Trust & Will recommends witnesses and a notary regardless.
• If you have a trust, sign and notarize the trust before or in the same session as the pour-over will, with matching dates.
• Nothing is filed with a court. You store the originals safely.

An online will that is signed properly is as valid as one typed in a lawyer’s office. An online will that is signed without the witnesses your state requires may not be valid at all. That is true of every provider, not just Trust & Will.

Will Trust & Will keep charging you?

Only if you choose a membership. This is the source of most “is it a scam” searches, so it is worth being precise.

The estate plan is a one-time purchase. Separately, Trust & Will sells memberships:

Tier	Price	What it adds
Free	Nothing	Digital download, Plan Strength score
Essentials	$49/year	Editing your plan anytime, AI assistant, one free shipment a year, digital safe
Pro	$299/year	Everything in Essentials plus attorney support, an estate tax report and premium support

The help centre says you get the free tier by choosing “No, thanks” in the membership section at checkout. If you add Essentials, it renews automatically each year with the card you used. The terms say Trust & Will sends a renewal reminder before each renewal, that you can cancel in account settings or by email at least a day before the renewal date, and that you keep the benefits until the end of the paid period. Cancelling does not affect the validity of your plan.

The one thing we could not confirm from public pages is whether the Essentials box is already ticked when you reach checkout. Look for it.

Can you get your money back?

This is where Trust & Will’s own documents disagree, and it is the main thing to understand before you pay.

The help-centre refund policy describes a 30-day satisfaction guarantee: ask within 30 days from purchase and the request is reviewed within seven business days, or processed automatically through the account assistant. Part of the price may be withheld if you used attorney support, the concierge, a notary or a deed service.

The terms of service say that there are no refunds for cancellation, that all purchases are final, and that refunds are discretionary and considered case by case “in accordance with our refund policy”.

The terms are the binding contract, but they point to the refund policy, and the refund policy is specific. The practical reading: if you want a refund, ask inside 30 days, in writing, with your receipt number. Two rules are consistent across both: membership payments are not refunded once made, and the attorney add-on is fully refundable within 14 days if you have not used an appointment.

What do you give up by agreeing to the terms?

The line that deserves attention appears in capitals at the top of the terms of service: Mandatory arbitration and a class-action waiver. In plain terms, if you have a dispute with Trust & Will, you agree to resolve it through individual arbitration rather than in court, and you cannot join a class action. This is common in consumer contracts, including at many large companies, but it is a real limit on your options and worth knowing before you click “agree”.

The terms also say Trust & Will can change its fees for existing services at any time, with any change to a membership’s renewal price taking effect at the next renewal after notice.

What happens to your personal information?

Estate planning means typing in your family, your assets and sometimes your health wishes, so this question is reasonable. From the terms:

• Ownership: You keep ownership of your estate plan content.
• AI: your plan content is Not used to train external AI models through Trust & Will’s own AI features. If you connect a third-party AI agent yourself, that provider’s terms govern what it does with your data.
• Selling data: the plan pages state that Trust & Will will never sell or share your information without consent.
• Deleting your account: the help centre explains that deletion goes through support, with identity verification, and is permanent.

The terms also ask you not to submit sensitive personal, financial or regulated information unless a feature specifically requests it for a stated purpose. Describe assets in your plan; you rarely need to type in full account numbers.

Does Trust & Will make money from its partners?

Yes, and it says so. Its deed-transfer help page recommends a partner, Bundle, for moving a house into a trust at $140 per deed, plus recording fees, and notes that Trust & Will receives a commission for every referral. Its mobile notary service is run through Snapdocs at $170 to $210. Neither is required: you can use any notary, and you can have a deed prepared another way.

We think disclosing the commission is a good sign rather than a bad one. It is also a reason to compare the partner’s price before using it.

Red flags that would apply to any online will service

Trust & Will passes the basic checks: published prices, a written refund policy, clear cancellation steps, and plain language about not being a law firm. The risks that remain are the ones that apply to every service in this category:

1. Unsigned or wrongly signed documents. The most common way an online plan fails.
2. An unfunded trust. A trust that does not own your house does not keep it out of probate.
3. A plan that does not fit a complicated family. Trust & Will itself recommends an attorney-drafted plan for special-needs children, very large estates, businesses and complex blended families.
4. Forgotten renewals. Any auto-renewing membership, here or elsewhere.

How does it compare with the other big names on these points?

Legitimacy is relative, so here is how Trust & Will’s fine print sits next to the two names it is most often compared with, on the points people worry about most:

	Trust & Will	LegalZoom	Quicken WillMaker & Trust
Refund window	30 days from purchase (help centre)	7 days after your estate plan is completed	No policy found on willmaker.com
What renews	Optional membership, if you add it	Attorney plan on Pro and Premium tiers	Nothing automatically; renewal is optional
Renewal reminder	Promised before each renewal	About a week before billing, "as a courtesy only"	Not applicable
Attorney access	Add-on, Pro membership or custom plan	Included in Premium tiers	None

On refunds and renewal notice, Trust & Will is more customer-friendly than LegalZoom. WillMaker avoids the renewal question entirely but publishes no refund policy that we could find. None of the three is a law firm, and all three say so.

So should you trust it?

If your family and finances are straightforward, Trust & Will is a legitimate and well-documented way to make a will or living trust, with clear prices and a better refund policy than most competitors. Go in knowing three things: the membership is optional and renews if you add it, refunds should be requested inside 30 days, and disputes go to arbitration.

If your situation is complicated, the legitimate move is not a different website but a local estate planning attorney.

If you go ahead: a safe way to buy

1. Choose the will or trust plan, couple version if you are married.
2. At checkout, decide on the membership deliberately; choose “No, thanks” if you will not edit the plan soon.
3. Keep the receipt and note the 30-day refund date.
4. Read every document within the first week.
5. Sign following the first-page instructions for your state, with witnesses and a notary.
6. Store the originals, download copies, and fund the trust if you have one.