FreeWill review: a genuinely free will, a California-only trust, and the limits worth knowing

FreeWill is exactly what its name says. You answer questions online, download a will as a PDF, print it and sign it with two witnesses, and nobody asks for a credit card at any point. It is used by a great many people because the price is zero and the product is decent, and for a person with simple wishes it is often all they need.

We do not earn anything from FreeWill, so this page has no buttons. It is here because “is a free will good enough?” is the question many readers should ask before paying anyone. The honest answer is often yes, and the useful part is knowing the specific cases where it is not. Everything below comes from FreeWill’s own FAQ, help centre and privacy notice, read on the date in the facts table. We have not made a will with it.

How can FreeWill be free?

FreeWill is a company, not a charity. It describes itself as a Delaware public benefit corporation, and its business is selling fundraising software to nonprofits. More than 1,000 nonprofit partners sponsor the service: they pay FreeWill because some people who make a free will choose to leave a gift to a charity in it.

That shapes the product in one visible way. The questionnaire invites you to consider leaving a gift to a cause you care about. It is optional, and you can make, download and sign your will without leaving anything to anyone outside your family. Some people find the prompt welcome; others skip it in a click.

What can you make with FreeWill?

Document	Price	Notes
Last will	Free	Wills for property in the 50 states and DC
Health care directive and financial power of attorney	Health care directive and financial power of attorney, also free	Separate questionnaires
Mirror will for a spouse or partner	Free	Offered if you are married or in a domestic partnership
Revocable living trust	Free, California residents only	Comes with a pour-over will
Beneficiary designation guidance	Free	For accounts that pass outside your will
Updates	Free: edit in your account, print and sign again	Codicils: Not offered: edit and re-sign a new will instead

The will covers the core jobs: naming who gets what, an executor, a guardian for your children and your pets, a digital executor for your online accounts, and your funeral wishes. FreeWill also says it never asks for your Social Security number; where a form needs it, you write it in by hand after printing.

Is a FreeWill will legally valid?

Yes, once it is signed properly. That is true of every online will, free or paid: the website produces the document, and the signing makes it a will. FreeWill’s own instructions are straightforward:

• Witnesses: Two witnesses, 18 or older, not named in the will. You and both witnesses sign in the same session, in each other’s presence.
• Notary: Required only in Louisiana; elsewhere optional, for a self-proving affidavit. You can choose to add a self-proving affidavit in the questionnaire, which lets the court accept the will without contacting your witnesses.
• Online notarisation: Through Proof, paid to Proof; bring your own witnesses or pay Proof for them. Useful if you cannot get to a notary, but it is not free, and you would need to check your state accepts a remotely witnessed will.

Practical details from its help centre are worth knowing: witnesses do not have to live in your state, but someone nearby is easier to find later; anyone who could inherit under the will, even as a backup, should not be a witness, and neither should their spouse; and banks, post offices and shipping stores often have staff who can witness or notarise if you call ahead. Our guide to whether online wills are legally valid quotes the state statutes on witnessing.

Does FreeWill work for couples?

Better than most people realise. If you tell the questionnaire you are married or in a domestic partnership, at the end of your will it offers to create a mirror will: a near-identical will for your partner, ready to review and sign. Alternatively, your partner can make their own will under a separate profile in the same account.

FreeWill itself is careful about when a mirror will fits. It suggests one when you are married or partnered, neither of you has children with anyone else, and you agree completely on who should manage your estates and inherit. If either of you has children from a previous relationship, a mirror will can quietly disinherit them if the surviving partner later changes their own will. That is a case for a lawyer, not a free form.

A mirror will is still two separate wills, one for each of you, which estate planners generally prefer to a single joint will that both spouses sign.

The California living trust: what you get and the catch

If you live in California, FreeWill’s living trust is a real alternative to paying several hundred dollars, and California is where avoiding probate matters most, because its probate fees are set by statute as a percentage of the estate. The trust page says you can create the trust with your spouse or partner, and the trust comes with a pour-over will that sends anything you forgot to transfer into the trust.

There are two things to know before relying on it:

1. You fund it yourself. A trust only avoids probate for assets you actually transfer into it, starting with retitling your house by deed. FreeWill gives instructions, but there is no deed service; paid services sell one, such as Trust & Will’s at $140 per deed, plus recording fees.
2. You cannot amend it on FreeWill. No amendments: start a new trust if it is unsigned and unfunded; otherwise move assets to a new trust or see an attorney. For a will, redoing it costs nothing but a new signing. For a funded trust, moving every asset into a new trust is real work. If you expect your wishes to change, that matters.

Outside California, FreeWill offers no trust at all. The cheapest paid trust we track is Quicken WillMaker & Trust’s Plus plan at $149.

What happens to your information?

This is the question behind most “is FreeWill legit” searches, and FreeWill answers it directly. Its help centre says it does not sell your data to third parties. The specific rule for charities is: Only if you leave a gift and ask FreeWill to notify that charity. Notifying a charity is an opt-in step after you have chosen to leave it a gift.

If you do opt in, the privacy notice is clear about what goes to that charity: details such as your contact information, birth year, city and state, and the gift amount or percentage, and the charity may use them for its own fundraising. In other words, expect to hear from them. If you would rather leave a gift quietly, leave it in your will and do not ask FreeWill to notify the charity.

Two smaller points from the privacy notice: FreeWill uses advertising cookies and interest-based advertising, with opt-outs explained in the notice, and it shares aggregated, non-identifying statistics about giving trends.

What FreeWill does not do

The limits are where paid services earn their price:

• No lawyer. None built in; it points you to local attorneys, including its FreeWill Fellows. At the end of the will it also gives you a summary of your wishes to take to an attorney if you decide you need one.
• No trust outside California, and no amendments to a signed trust.
• No codicils. Updating means editing your answers and signing a fresh will, which is actually what most estate lawyers recommend anyway.
• No document storage you should rely on. Its help centre says FreeWill does not store or maintain copies of your documents.
• No wills for someone else. It is meant to be used by the person making the will.
• No help with funding, signing appointments or complex situations such as special-needs trusts, business succession or property abroad.

FreeWill or a paid service?

Our Trust & Will vs FreeWill page goes through this choice document by document.

	FreeWill	Quicken WillMaker & Trust	Trust & Will	LegalZoom
Will	Free	$109	$199	$129
Living trust	California only	$149	$499	$399
Couple	Free mirror will	No surcharge	Couple prices	Couple prices
Attorney	None	None	Paid add-on	In higher tiers
Amend a trust	Not offered	Within the revision period	With membership	Within the revision period

Paying makes sense when you need something in the bottom three rows: a trust outside California, a lawyer, or the ability to keep changing a trust. If none of those apply, the paid will is mostly a nicer questionnaire. Our page on FreeWill alternatives matches each gap to the cheapest paid option.

Where free wills usually go wrong

The document is rarely the problem. When a free will fails, it is almost always because of something that happened after the download:

• It was never signed properly. A printed will with no witnesses, or with a beneficiary as one of the two witnesses, is the most common and most avoidable failure. Sign it the week you make it.
• Nobody can find it. Since FreeWill does not keep a copy for you, a signed original in a drawer nobody else knows about is as good as no will. Tell your executor where it is, or keep it with your other important papers.
• It was not updated. Marriage, divorce, a new child or a move to another state are all reasons to revisit it. Updating costs nothing on FreeWill, but you still have to do it and sign again.
• It was expected to do a trust’s job. A will goes through probate. If avoiding probate on a house is the goal, a will alone will not achieve it, wherever you made it.
• Retirement accounts and life insurance were forgotten. They pass by beneficiary form, not by will. FreeWill’s beneficiary designation guidance is free and worth using.

None of these are FreeWill’s fault, and paying for a will does not prevent them. A paid service may remind you more often, which is part of what its membership buys.

Who should use FreeWill?

Use it if:

• You want a will now and your wishes are straightforward: everything to your spouse, then your children, with a guardian named.
• You are a married couple with no children from earlier relationships; the mirror will makes it a short job for both of you.
• You live in California, want a simple trust, and expect your wishes to stay settled.
• You want a free health care directive and power of attorney alongside a will you bought elsewhere.

Skip it if:

• You want a trust and live outside California.
• You want an attorney to answer questions before you sign.
• Your family or assets are complicated: a blended family, a business, a beneficiary with special needs, or property abroad.

Making your FreeWill will, step by step

1. Gather names and addresses for your executor, guardian and backups, and ask them first.
2. Answer the questionnaire, and decide on any charitable gift on its merits, not because you were asked.
3. If you are married, decide whether a mirror will fits or your partner should make a separate one.
4. Add a self-proving affidavit if your state allows it, and plan a notary visit.
5. Download and print, then sign with two adult witnesses who inherit nothing, all in one sitting.
6. Store the original safely and tell your executor where it is; do not rely on the website for a copy.
7. Check beneficiary forms on retirement accounts and life insurance, which your will does not control.