Legacy and Estate Planning Resources We Vetted, With the Price You Actually Pay
Wills and trusts, life insurance, and the vaults and organizers that keep it all findable. Every estate planning resource below was checked by us, priced at what you actually pay after our discount, and linked straight through so you are not hunting for it.
Some listings pay us a commission at no cost to you, which is what keeps this free. Nothing is here because it pays, and several of the most useful entries pay us nothing.
In Short
- What this is: every legacy and end-of-life service we have checked ourselves, in three categories: wills and legal documents, life insurance and income, and the tools that keep it all findable.
- What it costs to use: nothing. Prices shown are the provider’s, with our discount codes already applied.
- Cheapest complete estate plan here: $349 one time, including a living trust, a will, both powers of attorney and a healthcare directive.
- Lowest ongoing cost here: $3.75 a month, which locks a guaranteed cremation price at any age with no medical questions.
- How the links work: every listing goes straight to the provider, with our full review underneath it if you want the long version first.
Wills, Trusts & Legal Documents
Wills, living trusts, powers of attorney and healthcare directives. Flat-fee plans, guided software, or an attorney on call by the month.
Life Insurance & Income
Term, whole life, guaranteed acceptance and annuity income. No-exam coverage, and side-by-side comparison when you do not know which carrier fits.
Legacy Tools & Storage
Document vaults, family organizers, memory journals, voice recording, hardware wallets and QR memorials. The part that makes the rest findable.
Jump Straight to the Section You Need
Four sections below. Each one opens with a price comparison table, then the full listing for every provider in it.
Not sure where you land? Use a tool instead of reading. Free, no email, under two minutes.
- Estate Readiness ToolTen questions, then a scored list of what your plan is missing and whether a trust earns its cost
- Probate Cost CalculatorWhat probate would actually cost your family, by state, in real dollars
- Inherited Annuity Tax CalculatorWhat an inherited annuity leaves after tax, before you decide how to take it
Online Wills, Trusts and Estate Planning Documents
The cheapest complete plan here, including a living trust, is $349 one time, against $2,500 to $4,900 for the same core documents from an attorney. The table shows where each provider sits, renewal costs included, and what happens if you pass without a will shows what your state already decides by default.
| Service | Best for | Lowest real price | |
|---|---|---|---|
| LVED ★ | The only Memorial Merits exclusive discount, and a plan that keeps updating as your life does | $199Will Plan, one time, with code YFY63MX8 for 33% off. Vault alone $65/yr. Trust Plan $333 single, $500 couple. | Go › |
| Trust & Will ★ | The most guided process, drafted for all 50 states | $179Will Plan individual with code EXCLUSIVE10. Couple $269. Trust Plan $449. Vault and updates renew at $49/yr after year one. | Go › |
| Living Trustify ★ | The cheapest complete plan that includes a living trust | $349One time, no renewal. Living trust, pour-over will, durable POA, healthcare directive, HIPAA. Guardian nomination alone $19. | Go › |
| Quicken WillMaker | One fee, unlimited documents for the whole household, stored on your own computer | $109Basic, one time. Plus $149, All Access $219. $39.99/yr afterward only if you want document updates. Not sold in Louisiana. | Go › |
| LegalZoom | Optional attorney review and a year of legal consultations | $129Basic Will, no subscription attached. Pro Will $149 adds the directives and powers of attorney, $249 couple. Premium Will $299. Trusts from $399. Attorney access on the Pro and Premium will tiers renews at $25/mo after 30 days; on trust tiers, $199/yr. | Go › |
| FastWill | Remote notarization and deed transfer handled in one place | $199Will Package individual, $249 couple. Trust Package $499, $599 couple. Remote notary from $75. Deed transfer $399. | Go › |
| Legal Templates | Hundreds of documents beyond the estate plan | $9.99/moOn annual billing, $119.88/yr, with a 7-day free trial. Monthly alone is $49.95. 450+ attorney-drafted forms. | Go › |
| LegalShield | A real attorney on call, including probate help | $35.95/moBasic on annual billing, $431.46/yr. Covers you and your spouse. A living trust is Premium only, plus $250 per person. | Go › |
LVED: The Estate Plan That Delivers Itself ★
Attorney-drafted documents, a 25GB encrypted vault, and automatic delivery to the people who need them.
Code YFY63MX8 takes 33% off any plan. It is the only Memorial Merits exclusive estate discount online.
Most services on this page do one job. LVED is the only one covering two parts of a plan at once: the documents, and the map that gets them to your family. Attorney-drafted wills, trusts, powers of attorney and directives on one side, and a 25GB encrypted vault holding those documents, the financial records and the crypto credentials on the other. Automated escrow delivery releases everything to your named people on a verified death certificate, so nobody has to know a folder exists or go looking for it. Unlimited updates mean the plan still matches your life after a move, a marriage or a new grandchild.
- Will Plan $297, about $199 with the code: will, living will, healthcare directive, both powers of attorney, guardianship and pet trust
- Trust Plan $497 single or $747 couple, about $333 and $500 with the code
- Digital Vault on its own $97 a year, about $65 with the code, 25GB encrypted
- Automated escrow delivery on a verified death certificate, which nothing else on this page offers
- 30-day money-back guarantee on every tier, and you keep the documents either way
Trust & Will Estate Planning ★
Attorney-approved estate plans finished at home in about twenty minutes.
Code EXCLUSIVE10 takes 10% off any plan. It is a public code, not ours alone, and it works.
If what is stopping you is not the price but the fear of getting a legal document wrong, this is the smoothest process in the roster. Trust & Will walks you through wills, trusts, powers of attorney and healthcare directives written for your state, then ships the signing and notarization instructions, which is the step that actually decides whether a plan holds up. A traditional attorney charges $2,500 to $4,900 for the same core set. Optional licensed-attorney support is there if your situation turns out to be more complicated than you thought it was.
- Will Plan $199 individual and $299 couple, about $179 and $269 with the code
- Trust Plan $499 individual and $599 couple, about $449 and $539 with the code
- Optional licensed-attorney support as a $299 add-on
- Vault, AI assistant and unlimited updates renew at $49 a year after year one
- 30-day money-back guarantee, documents valid in all 50 states
Living Trustify: A Complete Plan for $349 ★
A complete estate plan built around a living trust, $349 one time, no subscription.
This is the cheapest complete plan on the page, and complete is the word doing the work. The $349 covers a living trust, a pour-over will, a durable power of attorney, an advance healthcare directive and a guardian nomination, which is the same document set an attorney assembles for several thousand. The trust is what keeps your home out of probate, and probate is where families lose twelve to eighteen months. Documents are attorney-drafted, valid in all 50 states, and they ship with execution instructions so the plan gets signed rather than sitting unsigned in a drawer.
- $349 one time. No subscription, no renewal, no annual membership
- Living trust, pour-over will, durable power of attorney, advance healthcare directive and guardian nomination
- A special needs provision is built in rather than sold separately
- Guardian nomination available on its own for $19, the cheapest we have found
- Valid in all 50 states, bank-level encryption, most people finish in about fifteen minutes
Quicken WillMaker & Trust
One flat fee, unlimited documents for the whole household, stored on your own computer.
The only service here that does not keep your documents on somebody else’s server. Quicken WillMaker from Nolo runs on your own machine, which is the right answer for anyone who does not want a subscription or a cloud account holding their family’s private papers. One fee covers unlimited documents for everyone in the household, including thirty-five forms beyond the core estate set. Thirty-nine years of legal publishing sits behind it. The tradeoff is honest: you keep the documents current yourself, and continued updates after year one carry a small annual cost.
- Basic $109, Plus $149, All Access $219, all one-time purchases
- Unlimited documents for your entire household, plus 35 additional forms
- Stored locally on your computer for privacy, or online if you prefer
- $39.99 a year after year one, and only if you want continued document updates
- Not available in Louisiana or US territories
LegalZoom Estate Planning
The most established name here, with optional attorney review and a full year of consultations.
Two million customers over two decades, and for some families that track record is worth more than saving eighty dollars. LegalZoom builds wills, trusts, powers of attorney and healthcare directives through guided questionnaires with state-specific documents accepted nationwide. Its premium packages add attorney document review plus unlimited thirty-minute legal consultations for a full year, and that consultation year is the real reason to choose it over the cheaper options here. It is the closest thing to having a lawyer without hiring one.
- Basic Will $129, the entry tier, with no subscription attached
- Pro Will $149 individual and $249 couple. Premium Will $299 and $399
- Basic Trust $399 and $499. Premium Trust $549 and $649
- Premium tiers add attorney document review and a year of 30-minute consultations
- 60-day satisfaction guarantee
Auto-renew disclosure: will tiers charge $25 at day 30 and then renew monthly at $25. Trust and Premium tiers continue at $199 a year. Cancel online or by phone.
FastWill Will and Trust Creation
The only service here that handles remote notarization and the deed transfer for you.
A trust that never gets funded is a trust that does nothing, and funding usually means transferring the deed to your house, which is exactly where most people stall and stop. FastWill is the only service in this roster that will prepare, file and record the quitclaim deed on your behalf, and it offers remote notarization with witnesses included so the signing does not depend on finding a notary. That combination matters more than a price difference of a few dollars, because it closes the two gaps that leave finished documents legally inert.
- Will Package $199 individual and $249 couple
- Trust Package $499 individual and $599 couple, eight documents included
- Remote notarization from $75, with witnesses included in every session
- Deed transfer prepared, filed and recorded from $399 plus county recording fees
- Thirty days of editability included, with unlimited editing available at checkout
Legal Templates: Documents Beyond the Estate Plan
Hundreds of attorney-drafted documents, not just the estate set.
Estate planning is rarely the only paperwork a family ends up needing. Legal Templates covers more than 450 attorney-drafted documents valid in all 50 states, so the same subscription that produces a will and a power of attorney also produces the lease, the bill of sale, the affidavit and the dozen other forms that surface while an estate is being settled. Guided questionnaires, instant download in Word or PDF, built-in e-signature and secure storage. For an executor staring down a year of paperwork, breadth is the feature.
- $9.99 a month on annual billing, $119.88 a year
- More than 450 attorney-drafted documents valid in all 50 states
- Download in Word, PDF or several other formats, with built-in e-signature
- Seven-day free trial
Billing disclosure: after the seven-day trial the plan bills at $49.95 a month unless you choose annual billing, which is $9.99 a month. Select annual at signup.
LegalShield: A Lawyer on Call
A law firm on retainer for less than one hour of an attorney’s time.
Every other service on this page sells you documents. LegalShield sells you a lawyer. A dedicated provider law firm in your state answers unlimited calls on personal legal matters, prepares your will, power of attorney and living will, and writes letters or reviews documents on your behalf. For someone already named executor and facing probate, this is the only option here that covers a matter already underway with no waiting period. A private-practice attorney bills $200 to $400 an hour, and the meter starts when you say hello.
- Basic $39.95 a month, or $35.95 on annual billing at $431.46 a year
- Covers you and your spouse, with unlimited consultations on personal legal matters
- Lawyer-prepared will, power of attorney and living will included
- Probate consultation and review included when you are named executor
- A revocable living trust is Premium only, at $250 per person plus $250 per person for each annual update
Comparing wills and trusts document by document? Open the Estate Planning and Wills directory.
Life Insurance and Guaranteed Income for Your Family
Most applications here finish in five to fifteen minutes, several need no medical exam at all up to $3 million in coverage, and starting premiums for a healthy adult in their thirties run closer to a phone bill than a car payment.
| Service | Best for | Lowest real price | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cremation Club ★ | Locking a cremation price for life, at any age, with no medical questions | $3.75/moSilver on annual billing, $45/yr with code MEMORIAL10. Gold, the plan we recommend, is $9.00/mo or $107.99/yr with the code. | Go › |
| Ladder ★ | Term coverage you can lower later without reapplying | From $5/moA 20 year old buying $100,000 on a 10 year term. Coverage $100,000 to $8 million, ages 20 to 60. No exam up to $3 million. | Go › |
| Ethos ★ | Estate documents included at no extra cost alongside coverage | Quote basedTerm ages 20 to 65, $25,000 to $3 million, terms of 10 to 40 years, no medical exam. Not available in New York. | Go › |
| Everyday Life ★ | Being matched to a carrier instead of sold one | From $3.65/moTerm coverage $25,000 to $500,000 over 10 to 30 years. Most applications finish in about 15 minutes. | Go › |
| Annuity.org ★ | Turning a payout into guaranteed monthly income for a surviving spouse | FreeConsultation with a licensed retirement income specialist. No obligation, no cost to you. | Go › |
Cremation Club Nationwide Membership ★
A guaranteed cremation price locked for life, from $3.75 a month, with no medical questions.
Code MEMORIAL10 takes 10% off monthly and annual plans.
Every other option in this category asks about your health. This one does not. Cremation Club is a membership rather than insurance, which is why Silver accepts any age with no medical questions and guarantees a $1,250 cremation from the day you join. Gold and Platinum lock a $99 cremation once you pass twelve months of continuous membership, and until that year completes the $1,250 guarantee still protects your family. The national average direct cremation runs about $2,200 and has climbed every year for a decade, so the lock is the whole product.
- Silver $4.99 a month or $50 a year, about $3.75 a month with the code. Any age, no medical questions, $1,250 guaranteed from day one
- Gold $13.99 a month or $119.99 a year, about $9.00 a month with the code. $99 cremation after twelve months, under 80 at signup
- Platinum $19.99 a month or $199.99 a year, about $15.00 a month with the code, adding away-from-home coverage abroad
- Additional loved ones can be added from $4.17 a month, up to 29 percent off the primary rate
- Free attorney-approved will, estate settlement support and a free obituary included with membership
Ladder Life Insurance ★
Term coverage that shrinks as your obligations do, without reapplying.
A will decides who inherits. A policy decides whether there is anything meaningful to inherit before your assets have had time to grow, which is the reason coverage belongs on an estate planning page at all. Ladder writes term coverage from $100,000 to $8 million for adults 20 to 60, with no medical exam up to $3 million and an application that finishes in about five minutes. What separates it from every other carrier here is that you can lower the coverage later, as the mortgage shrinks and the children finish school, and the premium follows down with it. The policy stays proportional to the plan instead of outliving its purpose.
- Coverage from $100,000 to $8 million, for adults aged 20 to 60
- No medical exam up to $3 million, with a free at-home health check above that
- Starting around $5 a month for a 20 year old buying $100,000 on a ten year term
- Coverage adjustable downward without reapplying, and the premium follows
- Policies written by established carriers including Amica Life and Fidelity Security Life, with a 30-day money-back guarantee
Ethos Life Insurance ★
Coverage that brings the estate documents with it.
Ethos is the only carrier on this page that hands you the legal documents alongside the policy. Term coverage runs $25,000 to $3 million for ages 20 to 65, across terms from ten to forty years, with no medical exam and a decision that usually arrives in the same sitting. For anyone who has been putting off both the will and the coverage, that pairing removes the second decision entirely, which is often the one that keeps getting postponed. For anyone a standard carrier will not take, Ethos also offers guaranteed issue whole life through TruStage with no health questions at all.
- Term coverage $25,000 to $3 million, ages 20 to 65, terms of 10 to 40 years
- No medical exam, and most applications finish in about twenty minutes
- Estate planning documents included alongside the policy at no extra cost
- Guaranteed issue whole life through TruStage, ages 45 to 85, $2,000 to $25,000, no health questions
- 30-day money-back guarantee. Available in every state except New York
Everyday Life Insurance ★
Matched to a carrier instead of sold one.
Most carriers sell you their own product. Everyday Life works the other way, comparing multiple top-rated insurers and matching you against your health, your obligations and what you are actually trying to protect. Its Predictive Protection technology recommends both the coverage amount and the policy type, and that second one matters more than people expect, because the most common costly mistake in this category is buying the wrong shape of policy rather than the wrong carrier. Applications take about fifteen minutes and most require no medical exam.
- Term coverage from $25,000 to $500,000, over terms of ten to thirty years
- Whole life available with death benefits from $5,000 to $50,000
- Starting around $3.65 a month depending on age and coverage
- Multiple top-rated carriers compared through one application, no exam for most policies
- Recommends the coverage amount and the policy type rather than leaving you to guess
Annuity.org Retirement Income Consultation ★
Turning a payout into income that does not run out.
A life insurance payout arrives as a lump sum, and a lump sum handed to a grieving spouse is not the same thing as security. Annuity.org connects you with licensed retirement income specialists who explain how to convert part of that money into guaranteed monthly payments for life, which is the difference between an inheritance that lasts and one that is gone inside four years. This belongs on an estate planning page because the will and the policy both stop working at the moment the money arrives. This is the part that decides what happens next.
- Free consultation with a licensed retirement income specialist
- Covers converting a lump sum into guaranteed monthly income for life
- Built for a surviving spouse or an inheritor deciding what to do with a payout
- No cost to you and no obligation to buy anything
Want the coverage types side by side, with who each carrier accepts? Open the Life Insurance directory.
Digital Vaults, Family Organizers and Memory Preservation Tools
This is the category that separates a plan that exists from a plan that works. A will your executor cannot find is a will that does not exist, passwords in your head are accounts your loved ones will spend months recovering, and crypto with no written recovery phrase is gone permanently and by design.
| Service | Best for | Lowest real price | |
|---|---|---|---|
| AARP ★ | Fraud protection, Medicare guidance and a free will tool for adults 50 and older | $15First full year with automatic renewal, then $20/yr. Free gift at signup and a free second household membership. | Go › |
| Your Digital Vault | Documents your executor can actually reach on the day they need them | $84/yrOne plan, about $7 a month. 25GB encrypted storage, delegate access, guided organization, built-in password manager. | Go › |
| The Nokbox | Seeing what is missing, on paper, with someone else able to follow it | $59Lite. Base Kit $129, Original $159, Fireproof $169. Estate Planning Package bundles from $159 to $269. Prices verified 22 August 2026. | Go › |
| Remento ★ | Recording a parent’s stories without asking them to write anything | $89/yrWith code MEMORIALMERITS. Or $99 plus a free extra book worth $59 with MMFREEBOOK. Recordings stay yours whether you renew or not. | Go › |
| Ledger ★ | Taking crypto off an exchange so a family can actually inherit it | From $79Nano S Plus, up to $399 for the Stax. The entry model does the same core job as the flagship. | Go › |
| Trezor Safe 5 ★ | Open-source cold storage with security you can verify rather than trust | $129Certified secure element, colour touchscreen, Shamir backup that splits the recovery seed so no single copy is a point of failure. | Go › |
| Turning Hearts | A life story attached to the grave marker, growing for generations | $67.99Two identical medallions, normally $79.99, with 15% applied automatically through our link. Lifetime warranty on the disc. | Go › |
| Should Tomorrow Never Come, Legacy Edition ★ | A parent recording their life in their own hand | See price on AmazonPremium hardcover guided legacy journal with themed sections and writing prompts. Featured across ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX. | Go › |
| How to Legacy Journal ★ | Someone who wants to start but does not know what to write | See price on Amazon200+ prompts and memory writing ideas built for aging parents and seniors. Companion to the Legacy Edition. | Go › |
Your Digital Vault
One encrypted place for the documents, accounts and passwords your family would need.
A will your executor cannot find is a will that does not exist, and that is the failure this fixes. Your Digital Vault holds the wills, the medical records, the account details and the passwords in one encrypted location, and lets you name delegates who can reach exactly what they need during a medical crisis or after you pass, without handing anyone your credentials while you are alive. Guided prompts tell you what to put in, which is the part most people get wrong by storing everything except the thing that mattered.
- $84 a year for the Personal plan, about $7 a month, one plan with everything included
- 25GB of encrypted storage with access from any device
- Delegate access for trusted people, without sharing your own login
- Guided prompts that prioritise what to store first
- Built-in password manager, so accounts do not die with the person who knew them
The Nokbox Estate Organization System ★
Sixty six color-coded folders, so nobody has to guess what you had or where it is.
Every digital tool on this page assumes your family will look in the right place. The Nokbox assumes they will not, and hands them a physical box with sixty six labeled folders covering everything from bank accounts to pet care. Each folder carries a double-sided checksheet guiding you on one side and your next of kin on the other, which is the detail that separates it from a filing cabinet. Families report spending hundreds of hours searching after a death, and almost all of that is searching rather than deciding.
- Lite $59, Base Kit $129, Original $159, Fireproof $169
- Estate Planning Package bundles from $159 to $269, which pair the box with the document set
- Sixty six color-coded folders spanning accounts, property, insurance, digital life and pets
- Double-sided checksheets, one side for you and one side for your next of kin
- Works alongside a digital vault rather than instead of one
Remento Voice Recording Memory Books
Weekly prompts turn spoken stories into a hardcover book that plays their actual voice.
Code MMFREEBOOK adds a free extra book worth $59, or MEMORIALMERITS takes $10 off. One or the other, not both.
Ask a parent to write their life story and most will never start. Remento removes the writing entirely. Fifty two weekly prompts arrive by text or email for a year, they click and simply talk, and the recordings transcribe into a hardcover book. Each story carries a scannable code that plays their actual voice, which is the part families say they did not know they needed until they had it. Research suggests family stories disappear within two generations, and a written transcript never captures how somebody laughed.
- $99 a year, or about $89 with MEMORIALMERITS. Monthly is $12, which works out to $144
- Fifty two weekly prompts by text or email, no writing and no technical skill needed
- Recordings auto-transcribe into a hardcover book with a code that plays the original voice
- Extra hardcovers $69, or $99 for longer books. Digital version $49
- Recordings stay yours forever whether or not you ever renew
Should Tomorrow Never Come, Legacy Edition ★
A guided journal for a parent who has things to say and no idea where to start.
The flagship Memorial Merits journal, written for aging parents and grandparents who want to leave something more than paperwork. Guided sections, reflection space and prompts carry someone through their memories, values and the lessons they would want repeated, without ever facing a blank page. It was built for people who do not consider themselves writers, which is nearly everyone. Families treat it as a gift while the person is still here and a keepsake long after, and it has been featured across ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX.
- Premium hardcover with twelve themed sections and guided prompts throughout
- Written for aging parents and seniors, including people who never write anything
- Reflection space designed so a blank page never stops the writing
- Featured across ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX
- Available in other formats if a hardcover is not the right fit
How to Legacy Journal
Two hundred prompts for the person who wants to start and cannot think of anything.
The companion to the Legacy Edition, and the answer to the most common reason a journal stays empty. Over two hundred prompts pull out the stories a person would never have thought to tell: the ordinary afternoons, the decisions nobody explained, the things they believed and why. It is the affordable entry point in this category and it works as a gift for a child or grandchild who wants their parent’s history and does not know how to ask for it.
- Over two hundred prompts and memory writing ideas
- Built specifically for aging parents and seniors
- Designed to break writer’s block rather than assume it away
- Works on its own or alongside the Legacy Edition
- Available in hardcover, paperback and Kindle
Turning Hearts QR Memorial Medallion ★
A scannable medallion on the headstone that opens everything a family remembers.
15% off the entire order, applied automatically through our link. There is no code to enter.
Wills protect assets. This preserves the person. A medallion fixed to the headstone links anyone who visits to a growing profile holding the biography, the photographs, the videos, the stories and the tributes collected from everyone who knew them. While the estate closes and the paperwork ends, the memorial stays open and keeps building. For families already thinking carefully about what gets left behind, this is the piece nearly every estate plan forgets, and it costs less than a single hour with an attorney.
- $79.99 for two identical medallions, about $67.99 with the automatic 15% through our link
- Unlimited photos, videos, stories and tributes on the linked profile
- Lifetime replacement warranty on the physical medallion
- Rated 4.7 stars across 139 verified buyers
- Ships from a US warehouse and attaches to an existing marker
Ledger Hardware Wallet
Cold storage that takes crypto off an exchange and puts it somewhere a family can inherit.
Crypto left on an exchange is an account you rent, and accounts get frozen, lost or closed. Ledger keeps your private keys on a pocket-sized offline device, which is the widest supported and most approachable way to move from renting to owning. The entry model does the same core job as the flagship, so the price difference buys a screen rather than security. The gap it leaves is the one every hardware wallet leaves: it secures the keys, not the instructions, so your family still needs to know the device exists and where the recovery phrase lives.
- From about $79 for the Nano S Plus up to $399 for the Stax
- Private keys stay offline, out of reach of exchanges and hackers
- You alone hold the keys, so no company can freeze, lose or drain the balance
- A 24-word recovery phrase, written by hand, is the master backup for everything on it
- The device protects the keys. Your estate plan has to protect the instructions
Trezor Safe 5
Open-source cold storage with security you can verify rather than take on faith.
Trezor runs firmware anyone can read and audit, which means its security is something you can check rather than trust. For a holder who wants that transparency, the Safe 5 pairs it with a certified secure element and backup options serious enough to build an estate plan around. Shamir backup can split the recovery seed so no single written copy is a point of failure, which matters more than it sounds when the plan involves handing something to family. Like every hardware wallet, it protects the keys and not the instructions.
- $129 for the Safe 5. A public discount code, TAKECONTROL10, is currently taking 10% off at checkout
- Open-source firmware, independently auditable, with a certified EAL6+ secure element
- Colour touchscreen, with a Bitcoin-only firmware option or standard firmware for thousands of coins
- Shamir backup splits the recovery seed so no single copy is a point of failure
- The device protects the keys. Your estate plan has to protect the instructions
AARP Membership ★
Fraud protection, Medicare guidance and a free will tool, for $15 the first year.
Adults in their fifties and sixties handling Medicare decisions, estate conversations and caregiving at the same time will find these resources more substantial than the organisation’s reputation suggests. The Fraud Watch Network, the plain-language Medicare guides and a free will-creation tool are built for exactly the decisions that carry the most financial and legal weight at this stage. At $15 for the first year with a second household membership included at no cost, it is the lowest-friction entry point to resources a family will eventually need anyway.
- $15 for the first full year with automatic renewal, then $20 a year, about $1.25 a month
- A free second household membership included, so a spouse is covered at no extra cost
- Fraud Watch Network built around the scams that target adults over fifty
- Plain-language Medicare guidance, which is where most of the confusion actually sits
- A free will-creation tool included with membership
Looking at vaults, organizers and memory tools in detail? Open the Legacy Tools directory.
More Vetted Legacy Services Worth Knowing About
Checked and still worth putting in front of a family, but not our first recommendation for most people. Sometimes the coverage is narrower, sometimes a better fitting option sits higher on this page. They stay because a directory that only shows the top pick is not a directory, and the person a narrow option fits is usually the person with the fewest choices left.
The Swiftest: Compare 30+ Carriers in One Search
One search across more than thirty carriers, ranked, with no sales calls attached.
The Swiftest ranks policies from over thirty carriers through its own scoring system, so term and permanent options sit side by side instead of requiring the same form five times. It is the right starting point when you do not yet know which carrier fits, and it is how we reach carriers we do not partner with directly. It sits here rather than higher up because a comparison tool is a step toward a decision rather than the decision itself.
- More than thirty carriers compared in a single search
- Term and permanent policies shown side by side
- Many options available with no medical exam
- Apply directly through whichever carrier you choose
Reached through The Swiftest
Gerber Life Guaranteed Life Insurance
Guaranteed acceptance from age 50 to 80, with no medical exam and no health questions.
Gerber Life exists for the person every other carrier turns down. Acceptance is guaranteed between 50 and 80 regardless of medical history, with no exam and no health questionnaire, and premiums are fixed for life. Coverage runs from $5,000 to $25,000, which is final expense money rather than income replacement: enough for the funeral, the outstanding medical bills, and the debts nobody wants a spouse inheriting. We reach it through The Swiftest comparison rather than directly.
- Guaranteed acceptance, ages 50 to 80, with no health questions asked
- Coverage from $5,000 to $25,000, fixed premiums for life
- Builds cash value you can borrow against if you need to
- Built for final expenses rather than replacing an income
Who Should Look Elsewhere
Three situations where nothing on this page is the right answer, and it is better to hear that here than after you have paid.
- A complicated estate. A blended family with children from more than one marriage, a business with partners, property in several states, a child with a disability who relies on benefits, or an estate large enough to owe federal estate tax. Hire a licensed estate attorney. Guided software is built for the common case and yours is not it. The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel is a reasonable place to start.
- You are in the first days after a loss. Almost nothing here helps you today. What helps is knowing what has to happen this week and what can wait, and our guide to being named executor lays out that order. Come back when the funeral is behind you.
- You cannot afford any of it right now. That is a real answer and more common than the industry admits. Free legal aid exists and it is not a lesser version of the same help. CaringInfo publishes free advance directive forms valid in every state, and every one of our own planning worksheets costs nothing and always will.
Getting Started
Pick the part you are shortest on, not the part that is easiest. Almost everyone already has some version of a will and almost nobody has a way for their loved ones to find anything, which is where the lost months come from.
Do one thing this week. Name a healthcare agent, or write the recovery phrase down and tell one person where it is, or check the beneficiary on the retirement account you have not looked at since you changed jobs. That last one takes four minutes and it overrides the will you paid for.
Then come back for the second thing. I have watched loved ones sit in a room and try to reconstruct a person’s wishes from memory, and I have watched families open a folder and find the answer already written down. The difference between those two rooms was never money. It was whether somebody, on an ordinary afternoon when nothing was wrong, decided to spend an hour on it. That is what Memorial Merits exists to make easier, and every service on this page was chosen because it shortens that hour.
Who Vetted This List
Every service here was checked by Gabriel Killian, founder of Memorial Merits and a US Navy Certified Instructor, Missile Defense Systems. Memorial Merits has been cited by CBS, ABC and Fox for its work on end-of-life planning.
Prices come from each provider’s own site, not from another directory, and every one on this page was re-checked in August 2026. Where a discount belongs to Memorial Merits, the listing says so. Where a code is public and anyone can use it, the listing says that too. Several of the most useful entries here pay us nothing at all.
Prices and partner terms last verified August 2026. Reviewed every 90 days.
Legacy and End-of-Life Planning Questions Families Ask Most
What should an end-of-life plan include?
Three things, and most households have only the first. Documents that name who has authority: a will, a durable financial power of attorney, a healthcare directive and a HIPAA authorization, plus your beneficiary designations, which override whatever the will says. Money that lets the plan actually be carried out, whether that is term coverage, final expense coverage or a locked cremation price. And a way for your family to find all of it, which is the part nearly every plan forgets.
Is online estate planning a good idea?
For most families, yes. What makes a plan legally valid is not the price paid for it, it is whether the signing, witnessing and notarization were done correctly for your state, and every service listed here ships those instructions. Online planning is the wrong answer for a complicated estate: a blended family, a business with partners, property in several states, a child who relies on benefits, or an estate large enough to owe federal estate tax. Those situations need a licensed attorney.
Do online wills stand up in court?
Yes, when they are executed properly. Courts care about the execution rather than the origin: the correct number of witnesses for your state, the signature, and notarization where your state requires it. An attorney-drafted will that was never signed correctly fails in exactly the same way. That is why execution instructions matter more than the brand printed on the document.
How much does estate planning cost?
A traditional attorney charges roughly $2,500 to $4,900 for a will, a power of attorney and a healthcare directive. The services on this page run from about $109 for one-time software to $349 for a complete plan including a living trust, and from $9.99 a month for a document subscription to $35.95 a month for an ongoing legal plan with an attorney on call. Every price in our tables already has our discount codes applied.
What is the cheapest complete estate plan on this page?
$349 one time, which covers a living trust, a pour-over will, a durable power of attorney, an advance healthcare directive and a guardian nomination. If you do not need a trust, a will plan runs about $179 to $199 with our discount codes applied.
Who should I talk to about estate planning?
If your situation is straightforward, guided software drafted by licensed estate attorneys covers it, and the money saved is real. Talk to a licensed estate attorney if you have a blended family, a business, property in more than one state, a child with a disability who relies on benefits, or an estate large enough to owe federal estate tax. We would rather tell you that than sell you a form.
Which accounts avoid probate?
Accounts with a named beneficiary generally pass outside probate, including retirement accounts, life insurance policies and bank accounts with a payable-on-death designation. Assets titled in a living trust also avoid it. This is why beneficiary designations deserve a check: the name on the account overrides the will, and a designation never updated after a divorce is one of the most common and expensive oversights in estate planning.
Do I need life insurance if I already have a will?
A will decides who inherits. It does not create anything to inherit. Coverage matters most while other people depend on your income, or when the concern is simply paying for a funeral, which averages about $2,200 for a direct cremation and has risen every year for a decade. Those are two different products at two very different prices, and buying a large term policy to cover a funeral is the most common costly mistake in this category.
What does Memorial Merits earn from these listings?
A commission on some of them, at no additional cost to you, and never a placement fee. Nothing appears on this page because it pays, several of the most useful entries pay us nothing at all, and the order reflects what we would tell a family member.
