Trust & Will vs LegalZoom: Which Should You Use?

Trust & Will and LegalZoom are two of the most established names in online estate planning, and both show up constantly in searches for a fast, affordable way to create a will or trust. They solve the same basic problem — turning a guided questionnaire into a legally valid, state-specific document — but they differ in scope, pricing structure, and how they handle attorney access. Here's an honest breakdown of both.

What Each Company Actually Is

Trust & Will is focused entirely on estate planning. It offers three core product lines — a Will-based plan, a Trust-based plan, and a standalone Guardian plan for parents who mainly need to name a guardian for minor children. Every plan bundles a healthcare directive and financial power of attorney alongside the core document, and guardian nominations for both children and pets are built in.

LegalZoom is a much broader online legal services company — it also handles business formation, trademarks, and other legal document categories — with estate planning as one product line among several. Its will and trust packages are typically offered in tiers (a basic package and a premium package with added attorney review), and LegalZoom has historically leaned on bundling attorney consultation access into its higher tiers.

Pricing Structure

Both companies price a basic individual will in a broadly similar, sub-$200 range, with trust-based plans costing meaningfully more at both companies — trust plans generally start in the $400–$600 range and can run higher for couples or premium tiers with attorney review included. Trust & Will typically layers on a small annual membership fee for ongoing document updates, while LegalZoom's higher tiers often include an attorney-consultation subscription that renews after an introductory period unless cancelled.

Exact numbers shift often at both companies, and third-party reviews frequently disagree with each other because pricing pages change faster than reviews get updated. Don't treat any specific dollar figure you read anywhere — including here — as current without checking the provider's own pricing page first.

Factor	Trust & Will	LegalZoom
Focus	Estate planning only	Broad legal services, including estate planning
Core plans	Will, Trust, Guardian	Basic Will/Trust, Premium Will/Trust
Guardian nominations	Built into Will and Trust plans, includes pets	Included; pet provisions on trust tier
Attorney access	Paid one-time add-on	Often bundled into higher tiers as a subscription
Ongoing updates	Small annual membership fee	Varies by plan/tier
Best fit	Straightforward estates wanting a dedicated, guided experience	People who also want attorney review bundled in, or need other legal services too

Attorney Access: The Real Difference

This is where the two companies diverge most. LegalZoom's premium tiers have generally included attorney consultation as part of the package, positioned as ongoing access you can use whenever a question comes up — though it's structured as a subscription that renews unless you cancel it. Trust & Will instead treats attorney support as a distinct, one-time paid add-on rather than folding it into a plan tier. If having a licensed attorney look over your documents matters to you, that structural difference is worth weighing more heavily than the sticker price of either plan.

Which One Should You Use?

For a simple, single-purpose will with no complications, the two are close enough that the deciding factor often comes down to interface preference and whether you want attorney review bundled in. For a full estate plan built around a revocable living trust — the more common recommendation for anyone who owns a home or wants to avoid probate — compare both trust tiers directly, since trust plans carry more feature variation between the two companies than basic wills do.

Neither service is built for a genuinely complex estate: multiple businesses, contested inheritance concerns in a blended family, significant estate tax exposure, or assets held outside the US. If your situation includes any of those, both companies can refer you toward an attorney — but it's usually more efficient to start with one directly. Our guide to digital assets and inheritance also covers what neither platform handles well by default: cryptocurrency, online businesses, and other assets that need explicit digital-asset language.