Trust & Will review: what you actually pay, and what the price page leaves out

Trust & Will sells two things, and the pricing page makes them look like one. The first is the estate plan: a will-based or trust-based set of documents you pay for once. The second is a membership that renews every year. Most of the confusion about Trust & Will, and most of the complaints you will read about it, sit in the gap between those two. This review separates them, adds up what you will actually pay, and says plainly who should buy something else.

Everything here comes from Trust & Will’s own pricing page, membership page, help centre and terms of service, read on the date shown next to each number. We have not bought a plan; when we do, this page will say so and when.

What does Trust & Will actually cost?

The plan prices are simple and they are the same whichever state you live in:

Plan	One person	Couple
Will-based plan	$199	$299
Trust-based plan	$499	$599

The will plan includes a last will, a living will (health care directive), a power of attorney and a HIPAA authorization. The trust plan adds the revocable living trust itself, a pour-over will, a certification of trust, a schedule of assets and a trust funding guide. Couples get a full set of documents for each spouse.

Then come the extras, which is where the bill grows:

• Membership (optional): $49/year for the Essentials tier, or $299/year for Pro, which adds attorney support.
• Attorney support on a plan: +$299.
• Mobile notary with two witnesses: $170 to $210, depending on the plan.
• Moving a house into the trust: $140 per deed, plus recording fees, through a partner.

None of the extras is required. But the membership decides something most buyers care about, so it deserves its own section.

Do you need the yearly membership?

You do not need it for your documents to be valid, and you do not need it at checkout. The help centre is explicit: there is a free tier, and you get it by choosing “No, thanks” in the membership section when you pay. The free tier keeps the digital download of your documents and a “Plan Strength” score. Our page on the Trust & Will membership sets out when it is worth adding.

What the free tier does not include is the thing most people assume they are buying with the plan: the ability to edit it later. On the membership page, “Ongoing edits — as life changes, make informed changes to your plan” has a check mark under Essentials and a dash under the free tier. Essentials also adds a digital safe for uploading other files, an AI assistant, and one free shipment of printed documents per billing year.

So the real question is not “is the membership a scam” but “will I need to change my plan in the next few years?” If you are about to have a child, buy a house, marry, divorce or move states, the answer is probably yes, and the membership is the price of making those changes yourself. If your life is settled and you expect to sign once and leave the documents in a drawer for a decade, you can decline it.

Three things to know before you add it:

1. It renews automatically with the card used for the plan. The terms say you get a reminder email before each renewal.
2. It is not refundable once paid. The refund policy says plainly that payments for active memberships are final.
3. Cancelling does not touch your plan. The help centre says the estate plan stays valid; you lose the membership features at the end of the billing period.

We could not find, on any public page, whether the Essentials box is ticked for you at checkout. The help centre only says you can choose “No, thanks”. Look for it before you pay.

What will it cost over three years?

Here is the arithmetic if you buy at the listed prices and keep the Essentials membership for three years (three yearly payments, so $147 on top of the plan). We assume one membership per account; the help centre prices the membership per year and does not say whether a couple pays it once or twice.

	Without membership	With Essentials for 3 years
Will, one person	$199	$346
Will, couple	$299	$446
Trust, one person	$499	$646
Trust, couple	$599	$746

Notary, deed and attorney costs come on top if you use them.

Will plan or trust plan: which is Trust & Will built for?

Trust & Will’s product is the trust. The will plan is fine, but at $199 it costs more than several competitors’ basic wills, and it is the trust plan where Trust & Will’s extras earn their keep: the funding guide, the schedule of assets, help-centre articles on moving vehicles, accounts and mineral rights into the trust, and a partner for deed transfers.

If you are unsure, you do not lose much by starting with the will. Upgrading a will plan to a trust later costs $300, the difference between plans, so you pay the same in total as if you had bought the trust first.

For married couples, the trust type is decided by your state. Trust & Will builds joint trusts in community property states and separate, mirror-image trusts in separate property states, and it does not let a married person in a community property state choose a separate trust. If you specifically want separate trusts in a community property state, that is a reason to talk to a local attorney.

What do you still have to do after you pay?

This is where online estate planning succeeds or fails, and where Trust & Will is more honest than most. Your documents are not valid until they are signed properly, and a trust does nothing until you move assets into it.

Signing. The first page of each document carries the signing instructions for your state. The help centre’s general rule: HIPAA forms need only your signature; the other key documents typically need your signature, two witnesses and a notary, although the exact requirement varies by state, and Trust & Will recommends witnesses and a notary regardless. If you have a trust, sign and notarize the trust before or at the same session as the pour-over will, with matching dates, because the trust does not legally exist until it is signed.

You can arrange the notary yourself (many banks and shipping stores have one) or book Trust & Will’s partner, Snapdocs, which sends a notary with two witnesses to your home for $170 to $210. That is convenient but optional.

Funding the trust. A living trust only avoids probate for assets the trust owns. That means retitling your house deed, bank and brokerage accounts into the trust’s name. Trust & Will includes a funding guide and a dozen help articles on it, and refers you to a partner, Bundle, for deeds at $140 per deed, plus recording fees. The help centre notes that Trust & Will earns a commission on those referrals, which is worth knowing. Some people prepare and record the deed themselves and pay only the county’s recording fee; whether that is wise depends on your state and your mortgage lender.

Can you get your money back?

Here Trust & Will’s own pages disagree. The help-centre refund policy offers a 30-day satisfaction guarantee: request a refund within 30 days of purchase and it will be reviewed within seven business days, or processed automatically through the account assistant if you are inside the window. Part of the price may be withheld if you used attorney support, the concierge, a notary or a deed service.

The terms of service, last updated October 2, 2026, read differently: they say there are no refunds for cancellation, that all purchases are final, and that refunds are discretionary and case by case “in accordance with our refund policy”. Read together, the practical meaning is that a refund inside 30 days is the published policy, and anything outside it is at Trust & Will’s discretion. If a refund matters to you, request it inside the 30 days and keep the receipt number.

Two narrower rules are clear on both pages: the attorney add-on is refundable in full within 14 days if you have not used an appointment, and membership payments are not refunded once made.

How much legal help do you actually get?

By default, none: Trust & Will is a document service, not a law firm, and its terms say so. You answer a questionnaire; software assembles state-specific documents that attorneys designed.

If you want a lawyer involved there are three levels, and they are easy to confuse:

• Attorney support added to your plan (+$299), refundable within 14 days if unused.
• The Pro membership at $299/year, which includes attorney support as a membership benefit.
• A custom plan drafted by a matched, independent attorney. Price: From $1,499. Trust & Will itself recommends it for a child with special needs, estates over fifteen million dollars, a business with three or more employees, or complex blended families.

Attorneys in all three are independent and state-licensed, working under a separate agreement with you. If you are paying for attorney time, the custom plan is the one where a lawyer actually drafts for your situation; the other two are review and questions.

Where Trust & Will does not work

• Louisiana: Trust & Will serves all 50 states but does not offer trusts in Louisiana. Its FAQ says Louisiana’s civil-law succession rules are not compatible with the trust product.
• Outside the 50 states: the service is built for the 50 states and does not include provisions for U.S. territories, and the site is only available to people located in the United States.
• Complicated families and estates: see the custom-plan list above. An online questionnaire cannot draft a special-needs trust properly or anticipate a contest.

Who should pick something else

• You want a simple will and nothing else. A free will from FreeWill, or a cheaper paid will, covers most single people with simple wishes. Trust & Will’s will plan is not its strength.
• You want to pay once and keep editing. Quicken WillMaker & Trust is sold as a one-off plan with free revisions for a year and a paid extension after that, and it covers your spouse and immediate family under one plan.
• You want a lawyer on the phone from day one. LegalZoom’s higher tiers bundle attorney consultations for a period, then renew them, which suits people who know they will have questions.

Our Trust & Will alternatives page matches each of these reasons to a replacement with like-for-like prices, and Trust & Will vs FreeWill sets out when the free option is enough.

How to buy Trust & Will without overpaying

1. Decide will or trust first. If you own a home in a state where probate is slow or expensive, start with the trust. If not, start with the will; upgrading later only costs $300, the difference between plans.
2. Buy the couple plan if you are married. It is far cheaper than two individual plans.
3. At checkout, decide on the membership on purpose. Add Essentials only if you expect to edit the plan within the year. Otherwise choose “No, thanks”; you can add it later from settings.
4. Skip the attorney add-on unless you have a specific question. If you buy it, use or cancel it within 14 days.
5. Sign properly, the same week. Follow the first-page instructions for your state, use a free or bank notary if you have one nearby, and sign the trust and pour-over will in one sitting.
6. Fund the trust. Work through the funding guide: deed first, then accounts. A trust you never fund leaves your family going through probate anyway.
7. Request any refund inside 30 days, with your receipt number, if you change your mind.