Most people who don’t have a will aren’t avoiding it because they’ve thought it through and decided against it — they’re avoiding it because it feels like a big, expensive, uncomfortable task to start. LawDepot exists to remove the “big and expensive” part, so the only thing left to overcome is the mildly uncomfortable one.
What Estate Planning Documents Are Available
LawDepot’s estate planning library covers the core documents most people need: a last will and testament, a living will for medical wishes, and a power of attorney to designate someone to manage your affairs if you’re unable to. Each is built through a guided question-and-answer process, adjusted to reflect your state’s requirements and your specific circumstances — your assets, your beneficiaries, and who you want making decisions on your behalf.
Why “I’ll Get to It Eventually” Is a Riskier Plan Than It Feels
Without a will, state law decides who inherits your assets — not your personal wishes, and not necessarily the people you’d have chosen. For parents, dying without a will also means a court decides who raises your children rather than you having named a guardian yourself. None of this requires a dramatic life event to become relevant; it’s relevant the moment you own anything or are responsible for anyone, which is a lower bar than most people assume before they actually sit down and think about it.
How the Process Works
- Choose your document — last will and testament, living will, or power of attorney
- Answer guided questions about your assets, beneficiaries, and wishes
- Review the generated document, built from attorney-sourced templates reflecting your state’s requirements
- Download, print, and follow the signing instructions provided — most documents are ready to review in five to ten minutes
That last step matters more with estate documents than most other categories: a will typically needs to be signed according to specific state formalities — witnesses, sometimes notarization — to be valid. A guided service walks you through exactly what your state requires, rather than leaving you to research it separately after the document is already drafted.
The Three Documents Worth Understanding
- Last Will and Testament — determines who inherits your assets and, if you have minor children, who you’d want named as their guardian
- Living Will — states your medical wishes in advance, in case you’re ever unable to communicate them yourself
- Power of Attorney — designates someone you trust to manage your financial or legal affairs if you become unable to do so
Together, these three cover the situations most people actually worry about — not just death, but incapacity, which is arguably the scenario people plan for even less often despite it being genuinely common.
Who This Is Actually For
- Parents who want to formally name a guardian for their children rather than leaving it to a court’s judgment
- Anyone who owns property, has savings, or has specific wishes about who inherits what
- Adults of any age thinking through what happens if they’re ever unable to make medical or financial decisions themselves
- People who’ve been meaning to update an outdated will after a marriage, divorce, or new child
A Few Things Worth Knowing
- A basic will covers most straightforward situations well. A large or complicated estate — significant assets, blended families, business ownership, tax planning needs — is where an estate planning attorney becomes genuinely worth the added cost.
- Signing requirements vary by state and matter enormously — an unsigned or improperly witnessed will can be challenged or invalidated, so following the specific instructions provided isn’t optional.
- A will isn’t a one-time task. Major life changes — marriage, divorce, a new child, a significant change in assets — are all good reasons to revisit and update it.
What Happens If You Become Incapacitated, Not Just If You Pass Away
Most people think of estate planning purely in terms of death, but incapacity is arguably the more common and less-discussed scenario — a serious illness, an accident, or a medical event that leaves you unable to make decisions for yourself, temporarily or permanently. Without a power of attorney in place, your family may need to go through a court process just to gain the legal authority to manage your finances or make decisions on your behalf, at a moment when they’re already dealing with enough. A power of attorney set up in advance avoids that entirely.
A Note on Talking to Your Family About It
Part of what makes estate planning uncomfortable isn’t just the paperwork — it’s the conversation around it. Deciding on a guardian for your children, or telling a sibling they’ve been named executor, can feel like a heavier conversation than it needs to be. Having the actual documents ready in advance tends to make that conversation more concrete and less abstract, which for a lot of people makes it easier to actually have rather than continuing to put off indefinitely.
Final Thoughts
The gap between “I should really write a will” and actually having one is usually smaller than it feels — the barrier is rarely the difficulty of the document itself, it’s the inertia of never quite getting around to starting. Having a fast, guided way to create the core estate planning documents removes the biggest excuse, leaving only the ten minutes it actually takes.
If you’ve been meaning to put a will or power of attorney in place, it’s worth seeing how quickly you can actually get it done.