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Online wills with free updates: revision windows, renewal fees and what you keep, compared

Only FreeWill lets you edit and re-download your will free for as long as you like. The paid services include a first period, 1 year from purchase at Quicken WillMaker & Trust and a year at GoodTrust, then charge a yearly fee to keep editing, from $39/year at GoodTrust to $49/year for Trust & Will's membership. LegalZoom's Basic and Pro wills give 30 days on Basic and Pro; 1 year on Premium. Since most people change their will only after a big life event, paying for a new will when that happens is often cheaper than paying every year to keep edit access.

By Nora Whitfield, consumer researcher (not an attorney). Published . Based on the providers' published pricing and terms. How we check.

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Every online will service says you can update your will. What they mean varies a lot: free forever, free for a year, free for 30 days, or included only while you pay a membership. And the difference matters, because the main reason to update a will comes years later, after a marriage, a divorce, a child or a move.

This page lines up each service’s revision period, what keeping edit access costs after it ends, and what you can still download if you stop paying. Every figure comes from each company’s own pages, read on the date in the facts table.

Revision periods and renewal fees

Service Free editing To keep editing after that Without paying, you keep
FreeWill Free: edit in your account, print and sign again Free Your account and edits
Quicken WillMaker & Trust 1 year from purchase $39.99/year for more revisions, optional Online: Make and revise for 1 year; documents viewable 90 days after. Download version: Use indefinitely; legal and technical updates for 1 year
GoodTrust A year of unlimited updates $39/year Account drops to the Free plan; the will can no longer be downloaded
Trust & Will Editing is an Essentials membership benefit $49/year The digital download, on the free tier
LegalZoom 30 days on Basic and Pro; 1 year on Premium Not published Not published
Rocket Lawyer While your membership is active $149/year (Standard) Documents you made stay available in your account, but you cannot make new ones
LawDepot While your subscription is active $107.88/year (estate plan) May be deleted after cancellation; later access may require a fee
Ethos The online tool "allows for updates as needed" Not stated Not stated

Three patterns stand out:

  1. FreeWill is the only one that is free indefinitely. If your wishes are simple, it is also the cheapest way to update a will made anywhere else.
  2. WillMaker, GoodTrust and Trust & Will all converge on a yearly fee to keep editing, from $39/year to $49/year.
  3. What you keep without paying differs most. Trust & Will’s free tier keeps your download. WillMaker’s download version keeps working indefinitely. GoodTrust’s downloads need an active subscription.

What does five years of edit access cost?

If you buy a complete will plan and keep edit access for five years:

Service Purchase Edit access, years 2 to 5 Five-year total
FreeWill Free Free Free
GoodTrust $149 $39/year × 4 $305
Quicken WillMaker & Trust (Plus) $149 $39.99/year for more revisions, optional × 4 $308.96
Trust & Will (membership from the start) $199 $49/year × 5 $444
LawDepot (estate plan, yearly) $107.88/year Same each year $539.40
Rocket Lawyer (Standard, yearly) $149/year Same each year $745

LegalZoom is left out because it does not publish what a revision costs after its free period.

Is paying for edit access worth it?

For most people, no. A will changes when life changes, typically a few times over decades. Paying every year to keep the edit button active costs more than buying a new will when you need one, especially since a new will from any service revokes the old one.

Edit access is worth paying for when:

  • Your life is changing fast: a new marriage, a baby on the way, a divorce in progress.
  • You value one account for everything, with your documents, executor information and updates in one place.
  • The membership includes something else you use, such as Rocket Lawyer’s attorney questions or Trust & Will’s Pro membership with attorney support at $299/year.

Otherwise, buy the plan, finish it within the free period, download everything, and let the renewal go.

The step that protects you whichever you choose

Download every document as soon as it is final, in every format offered, and keep the files somewhere you control. Then if you stop paying, the only thing you lose is the convenience of editing online. The signed paper original is your will; the account is a tool.

How to update for free when you need to

  1. Re-check your will after each life event using our life-change guide.
  2. If you are still in a free revision period, edit and re-sign.
  3. If not, compare renewing with making a new will elsewhere; for simple wishes, FreeWill costs nothing.
  4. Sign the new will properly and destroy the old one.
  5. If you want nothing recurring at all, our page on online wills with no annual fee lists the options.
Quicken WillMaker & Trust: what it publishes
ItemPublished valueChecked
Will, one person $109 Starter plan: wills, health care directives, final arrangements.
Living trust, one person $149 Plus plan: adds the living trust, power of attorney, transfer-on-death deed and the download version.
All Access plan $219 Adds smaller documents and a one-year subscription.
Will, couple No surcharge: up to 5 of each document for immediate family No joint wills: each spouse makes a separate will under the same plan.
Free revisions 1 year from purchase
Ongoing yearly cost $39.99/year for more revisions, optional Documents stay accessible for 90 days after the revision period ends.
State limits Not usable in Louisiana Also not for people whose permanent residence is outside the United States.
Online version access Make and revise for 1 year; documents viewable 90 days after
Download version access Use indefinitely; legal and technical updates for 1 year Plus and All Access only. Data cannot move between the online and download versions.
How documents are finalized Wills witnessed; living trusts and financial powers of attorney notarized Health care directives are witnessed, notarized or both, depending on the state. Every document comes with state-specific signing instructions.
Beneficiary survival period Beneficiaries must outlive you by 45 days Built into every WillMaker will; otherwise the gift goes to the alternate.
Not published before sign-up: A refund policy (none found on willmaker.com; nolo.com blocked automated reading on Nov 15, 2026); What the "1 Yr Subscription" in the All Access plan covers beyond the plan itself.
Trust & Will: what it publishes
ItemPublished valueChecked
Will, one person $199 Will plan.
Will, couple $299 Will plan.
Living trust, one person $499 Trust plan, includes a pour-over will.
Living trust, couple $599 Trust plan.
Ongoing yearly cost $49/year Essentials membership, optional: you can choose "No, thanks" at checkout. Auto-renews if you add it.
Attorney support add-on +$299 Shown on both the will and trust plans.
Attorney-drafted plan (complex needs) From $1,499 For special-needs children, estates of $15M+, businesses with 3+ employees or complex blended families.
Pro membership $299/year Only from account settings after checkout. Adds attorney support, an estate tax report and premium support.
Editing your plan after purchase Needs the Essentials membership The free tier keeps the digital download and Plan Strength score; "edit your plan at any time" is an Essentials benefit.
Refund window 30 days from purchase Help-centre "satisfaction guarantee". Part of the price may be withheld if attorney, notary, concierge or deed services were used.
Membership refunds None for an active, paid membership
Attorney add-on refund Full refund within 14 days if no appointment was used
Upgrading a will plan to a trust $300, the difference between plans
Mobile notary with 2 witnesses (Snapdocs) $170 to $210 $170 will plan, one person; $180 couple; $190 trust, one person; $200 joint trust; $210 separate trusts for a couple. Optional partner service.
Deed transfer into the trust (Bundle) $140 per deed, plus recording fees Optional partner service; deed notarization is +$100. Trust & Will says it earns a referral commission.
State limits All 50 states; no trusts in Louisiana Not available in U.S. territories.
Payment plans Available through Klarna
Disputes Mandatory arbitration and a class-action waiver Stated at the top of the terms of service (section 22).
Your plan data and AI Not used to train external AI models Applies to its own AI features; not to third-party AI agents you connect yourself.
Who owns what you enter You keep ownership of your estate plan content
Legal status Not a law firm; does not give legal advice Stated in the footer of every help-centre page. Attorney services come from independent, state-licensed attorneys under a separate agreement.
Not published before sign-up: Whether the Essentials membership is pre-selected at checkout (the help centre only says you can choose "No, thanks"); Whether the +$299 attorney support on the pricing page is a one-time charge (the refund policy calls it an "individual" purchase; the Pro membership with attorney support is $299 a year).
  • Their own pages disagree: The terms of service say all purchases are final and refunds are discretionary, case by case. The help-centre refund policy promises a 30-day satisfaction guarantee and says refund requests inside 30 days are processed automatically. (page A, page B; noted ).
GoodTrust: what it publishes
ItemPublished valueChecked
Estate plan (will, trust and directives) $149 Estate+ plan. Includes a year of unlimited updates. Per the pricing page, family members can each create their own plan at no extra fee.
Updates after the first year $39/year The help article says you are charged this after the first year "to continue making updates". It does not say whether it renews automatically.
Editing and downloading Needs an active subscription The same article says you can cancel at any time and re-subscribe when you want to make changes.
Documents in the plan Revocable living trust, will, financial power of attorney, health care directive, funeral and pet directives, digital vault
Family members Each adult family member can make their own plan at no extra cost Activated with a family plan code from your dashboard.
Couples A joint trust is possible; each spouse needs a separate pour-over will
Refunds 14 days from purchase, free-trial days included Request by support ticket; refunds take 5 to 10 business days.
After a refund or without a subscription Account drops to the Free plan; the will can no longer be downloaded
Legal advice Not a law firm; no legal advice or attorney service The home page says documents are drafted by estate planning attorneys.
Where documents are valid Says valid in all 50 states; documents valid only in the U.S.
Free trial One trial only; cancel from your billing section Trial length and whether a card is needed are not stated.
Not published before sign-up: Whether the $39 yearly update fee renews automatically; How long the free trial lasts and whether it needs a card; Whether Louisiana or any other state is excluded (pages say "valid in all 50 states"); Whether the trust must be notarised (the trust page only says to print and sign with two witnesses); Any deed transfer or trust funding service.
  • Their own pages disagree: The help-centre cost article says the plan includes "up to 4 complimentary accounts for family members"; the pricing and trust pages say it covers unlimited family members. (page A, page B; noted ).
LegalZoom: what it publishes
ItemPublished valueChecked
Will, one person $129 Basic will: will only, with 30 days of revisions.
Pro will, individual $149 Adds health care and financial documents and 30 days of attorney calls.
Premium will, individual $299 Adds a year of attorney calls and a year of revisions.
Will, couple $229 Basic will.
Pro and Premium will, couple $249 Pro; $399 Premium Same inclusions as the individual tiers.
Living trust, one person $399 Basic trust, includes a pour-over will.
Premium trust, individual $549 Adds a year of attorney calls and a year of revisions.
Living trust, couple $499 Basic trust. Premium trust for a couple is listed separately.
Premium trust, couple $649
Attorney plan renewal (Pro will) $25/month after 30 days Charged automatically to the card on file; cancel online or by phone.
Ongoing yearly cost $199/year attorney plan after year one Premium will and trust only; continues automatically, cancel online or by phone. Basic plans have no renewal on the pricing page.
Refund window 7 days after your estate plan is completed Within 60 days of purchase if the order is not yet completed. Completed means available to download or received in the mail.
Attorney plan refunds Within 30 days, unless you have had a consultation
Personal attorney plan on its own $199/year, or $119 every 6 months Includes attorney review and unlimited revisions of LegalZoom estate planning documents, and family coverage for a spouse and dependent children.
Renewal reminder About a week before billing, "as a courtesy only" The contract says a missed or unsent reminder does not excuse the charge.
How to cancel the attorney plan Online in My Account, or by phone
State limits Says its wills and trusts are accepted in all 50 states
Couple trust One joint living trust with two pour-over wills
Free revisions 30 days on Basic and Pro; 1 year on Premium
Pro will, couple $249
Premium will, couple $399
Deed transfer into the trust $249, plus state filing fees Standard package: title research, deed preparation and filing with the county recorder. Express is $289.
Not published before sign-up: What a revision costs after the free revision period ends, outside the attorney plan.
  • Their own pages disagree: The will page says the Pro will's attorney plan renews at $25/month and is fulfilled through Legal Advantage Plus; the Legal Plan Contract's fee schedule lists Legal Advantage Plus at $14.99 per month. (page A, page B; noted ).

Questions people ask next

Do I lose my will if I stop paying the renewal?

No. The will that counts is the paper you signed, and it stays valid. What you can lose is the ability to edit online, and at some services the ability to download your file again. Download every document as soon as you finish.

Can I update a will I made with one company using another?

Yes. Make a new will with any service; a new will normally revokes all earlier wills, which online wills state in their first clause. Sign it properly and destroy the old one.

How often should I update my will?

After marriage, divorce, a birth or adoption, a death in the family, a move to another state, or a large change in what you own. Otherwise, a quick review every three to five years is enough for most people.

Is a free revision period enough?

For getting the will right, yes: the first weeks are when people fix mistakes and think of things they missed. For life changes years later, no service's free window will still be open except FreeWill's.

Sources

  1. FreeWill FAQ
  2. WillMaker plans, pricing and FAQ
  3. Trust & Will help centre: membership tiers
  4. LegalZoom last will page
  5. GoodTrust help: how much does GoodTrust cost?
  6. Rocket Lawyer pricing
  7. LawDepot pricing and terms

This page is general information, not legal advice. Laws differ by state and change; talk to a licensed attorney about your situation.