I have 3 kids and put off writing a will for years, but Trust & Will helped me do it online in less than an hour

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The author is not pictured.

• I have three kids, but it's still taken me eight years to sit down and write a will.
• I dragged my feet because I thought it would be an exhausting process, but I recently learned about Trust & Will, which claims it can help you make a legal will online in 10 minutes.
• My husband and I wrote our wills together and had to talk about guardianship of our kids and who should be the executor of our estate, but even with all that discussion, the process only took us 40 minutes.
• Let Trust & Will help you create your estate plan online in minutes »

I have dragged my feet on making a will and assigning a legal guardian for my kids for the last eight years. Recently, my husband and I heard about Trust & Will, an online will-making platform, and decided it was finally time to make it happen.

There are a lot of options out there to make a will online or with software. What attracted me to Trust & Will most is that it claims you can make a legal, state-specific estate plan in just 10 minutes.

In reality, it took us a bit longer than that, but not much. And if you've already made decisions about who you want to appoint for certain duties, you could certainly shave off some time.

Choosing the right estate planning tool

The Trust & Will process started with choosing applicable life situations to find out which type of estate plan product was the best fit for me.

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I'm married with three kids under the age of 18. Once I checked off a few relevant boxes, my estate plan packages were revealed:

I opted for the will, which also included a separate will for my husband Patrick.

Naming guardians for your children and pets

The first major section of Trust & Will involved naming guardians for our children.

I entered each child's full name and birth date. If you're pregnant, you can also add your unborn child with his or her anticipated due date.

First, I designated my surviving spouse as their guardian and Patrick did the same, meaning if just one of us dies, the other automatically remains our kids' legal guardian. We both opted to nominate the same guardians for all of our children, but you can customize this section as much as you'd like.

Together we then nominated both a backup and second backup guardian. Trust & Will also gave us the option to designate a guardian for our dog, which we did.

Naming your assets

The next section identifies your assets to help make it easy for your executor to find all of your accounts and properties. I got to pick how our assets will be distributed, which is important because every state treats this process differently.

Use Trust & Will to create your estate plan in minutes »

First, I designated everything to be distributed to my husband if I died. But if we both died, our assets would be evenly distributed amongst the kids. I'm glad we clarified this because as Virginia residents, if one spouse dies, that person's assets are split evenly among the surviving spouse and children, even if they're underage.

Next, I chose an executor. Similar to the guardian process, Patrick and I first chose each other as our respective executors and then picked two backups in case we both die. Trust & Will also allows you to name a digital executor, giving that person legal access to your online accounts, including email and social media.

The next part of the assets section lets you designate assets to a charity or leave specific gifts to individuals. Our children are still quite young, so for now, I just left everything to be distributed equally among them.

At the end of the assets section, I included information about where our bank accounts are held and included information on our life insurance policies.

Setting wishes for final arrangements

The last part of the will-making session involved outlining final arrangements.

If you're married, you can designate your final wishes either separately or together. Patrick and I noted we'd both like to be cremated and have a memorial service, but other than that, we didn't include any special instructions or details.

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Once we finished the last section, the will-making process was almost done. I checked out and for two wills, the price came to $129. I found an online promo code for 10% off, however, so the total came to $119.

Finalizing your will

Before requesting my documents in the mail, I filled out a template on health directives. Then I opted to have all my paperwork shipped in the mail, which should arrive in one to two weeks.

The will isn't final yet. Once it arrives, we'll need to go to a notary and sign it in front of two witnesses. Some states may have different requirements.

In total, the Trust & Will process for two of us working together took about 40 minutes. Considering this was the first time we seriously talked about guardians and executors, I thought the process was simple and convenient.

Ready to write your will? Let Trust & Will be your guide »

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