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TotalLegal Review: Pros & Cons

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Image shows the TotalLegal logo. SmartAsset reviewed TotalLegal to see how it stacked up against other estate planning websites.

TotalLegal is a company that offers consumers the opportunity to create quality legal documents for a variety of needs. With regards to estate planning, the website allows users to create a last will and testament, power of attorney, living will and medical power of attorney. It also offers a full plan subscription so that users can connect with attorneys for services as well. If you’re looking to begin the process of creating a legal document with TotalLegal, you just have to begin by answering an online interview. Once you create an account you can log in later to revise or download your documents.

If you’d rather have a professional personally help you with your entire estate plan, consider working with a local financial advisor.

TotalLegal Overview

Pros
  • Relatively inexpensive; bundling can help save more
  • Variety of legal documents available
Cons
  • Relatively clunky interface
  • Pricing tiers can be a bit hard to follow
Best For
  • Availability of different kinds of legal documents

TotalLegal: Services & Features

Image shows an image of a form from TotalLegal. SmartAsset reviewed TotalLegal to see how it stacked up against other estate planning websites.

TotalLegal’s services and features are relatively inexpensive but also relatively wide-ranging. In the way of end-of-life and estate planning, the website offers the option of creating a last will and testament, a power of attorney, a living will and a medical power of attorney. If you wanted to create a will, for example, you’d complete the online interview questions, print the document yourself or opt to receive it by mail and then follow the instructions to sign in your state.

Besides this, users can create other legal documents that might be useful for setting up other parts of their lives and assets. Such documents include a bill of sale, name change form, a quitclaim deed, a warranty deed, a rental or lease agreement or a promissory note. TotalLegal also offers business products such as LLC formation and incorporation forms.

For users who wish to pay for a bundle of services instead of buying specific forms a la carte, the website offers a full TotalLegal™ Plan. By subscribing to this plan, users can not only create the aforementioned legal documents, but they can also receive free and discounted legal services from attorneys from the Legal Club of America. Free legal services from these attorneys include consultation, attorney-reviewed documents, free and annually updated will, small claims court service, government assistance programs and attorney letters and calls. Discounted attorney services through this subscription include traffic defense, simple will with trust, Chapter 7 bankruptcy, real estate closing and more. TotalLegal™ offers a useful document storage vault service too, through which subscribers can store and organize copies of all signed legal documents in a secure way, and reprint any document when needed.

TotalLegal: Pricing

TotalLegal’s Fee Structure

Membership Tiers
  • Tier 1: No subscription; documents purchased individually. Prices range from $14.95 to $19.95 for each legal document for estate planning
  • Tier 2: TotalLegal™ Plan – $89/year or $9.95/month
Extra Features
  • Tier 1: Other kinds of documents available to purchase individually; prices vary
  • Tier 2: All legal documents, free and discounted legal services from attorneys, online document storage vault service

For consumers who wish to simply create a last will and testament or other such estate planning document, the forms are relatively inexpensive – at less than $20 for any of those. However, if that’s all that you need, you might be better off searching for another company (such as FreeWill, for example), whose services allow you to create this one document for free.

For those who have more wide-reaching needs and who may need to cover other concerns about property, medical power of attorney or business forms over a longer period of time, the a la carte payment method may begin to add up. Instead of that approach, the company’s TotalLegal™ plan offers a fairly affordable option – at less than $10 per month or less than $90 per year – for the ability to create all of the estate planning, business and other legal documents mentioned above, as well as legal services and secure online document storage. If subscribers to this membership require further attorney services, they will have to pay for them, but can rest assured knowing that they’ll save at least 50% on them, from creating a simple will with a trust to filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

TotalLegal: User Support

With regards to estate planning, TotalLegal allows users to create a last will and testament, living wills and/or a power of attorney. On the company’s website, users must fill out interview questions that then result in the creation of the form. The questionnaire form is divided into parts and users can track their progress so that they know how many sections remain.

If you need assistance while filling out a form or navigating the site, the company has a very thorough help center page where users can find the answers to some frequently asked questions addressing anything from troubleshooting and technical issues to definitions of legal terms and breakdowns of specific rules and concepts.

If you’re looking for immediate support from customer support representatives, TotalLegal has a contact page where it provides an email address and phone number that users can call during most business hours. Inquiries directed to the company through these methods, however, must be of a non-legal nature.

If you need to enlist the services of a professional attorney or even a professional financial advisor, you should do so separately.

TotalLegal: Online Experience

Images shows a screenshot of the TotalLegal website last will and testament questionnaire form. SmartAsset reviewed TotalLegal to see how it stacked up against other estate planning websites.

TotalLegal does not have any further mobile or online platforms available through its service, as all the final documents will be available to users once they finalize the questionnaire process on the site. There is no app or other software that a user would need to download.

The website’s interface is relatively simple, but many users may (and have reported to) feel its design and user experience to be somewhat clunky. This has become a point of struggle for many users in relation to understanding the pricing model, which can be hard to piece together unless you spend some time on the website first to parse out the different tiers. On a related note, other users have also pointed out the fact that TotalLegal could be more inclusive, as the website currently only generates documents with the marital designations of “wife” and “husband,” not yet providing documents for same-sex marriages.

How Does TotalLegal Stack Up?

Comparing FreeWill to Other Services

ServicePricingFeaturesAccessibility
TotalLegal
  • $14.95 – $19.95 for legal documents
  • TotalLegal Plan subscription $89/year or $9.95/month
  • Create documents
  • With subscription: Legal services from attorneys
  • With subscription: Document storage vault service
  • Website
FreeWill
  • $0 / Free for individuals
  • Last will & testament, durable financial power of attorney, advance healthcare directive, charitable contributions
  • No legal services or support
  • Website
Tomorrow app
  • Mobile app free for families
  • Free for employees covered by employers who buy Tomorrow Plus plans
  • $39.99/year for Tomorrow Plus plan not through employer
  • Mobile creation of estate planning documents, such as will, trust, healthcare directive, power of attorney
  • App allows users to connect with family members and make decisions together
  • No legal services or support
  • Mobile app

The biggest differences TotalLegal has over competitors is its offerings of documents outside of simple estate planning documents, as well as the ability for consumer to connect to Legal Club of America attorneys for further insights.

Bottom Line

Overall, TotalLegal offers a wide selection of legal documents that include business forms and other forms aside from basic estate planning needs. Its individual form offerings are useful if a consumer wishes to buy a few select forms at once, but might not be worth the money if those particular forms are available for free elsewhere. Where TotalLegal is the most cost-effective for users is through its TotalLegal™ Plan, which, aside from necessary legal documents, provides the opportunity for consumers to receive a variety of legal services from attorneys (at different additional price points, where applicable) and secure document storage. This can be a great one-stop shop for all of your estate planning needs as you make sure you have what you need squared away for the future.

Estate Planning Tips

  • If you’re seeking more detailed advice instead of or in addition to your own estate planning steps, consider reaching out to a financial professional. Finding a financial advisor doesn’t have to be hard. SmartAsset’s free tool connects you with financial advisors in your area in five minutes. If you’re ready to be matched with local advisors, get started now.
  • Estate planning is all about looking ahead and mapping out your plan as best as possible. If you’re going the DIY route, make sure you’re aware of the possible financial consequences. Read more about the dangers of DIY estate planning and five estate planning mistakes you can’t afford to make.

Photo credit: TotalLegal

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