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A will is the legal document used to name guardians for your minor children (if you have any) and express your final wishes regarding the people you want to receive your property when you pass away. Learn more about wills in our full guide.

A trust is a legal arrangement where one person holds the property of another for the owner's benefit. When a trust is used for estate planning, the owner of property gives it to a person (called a 'trustee') with instructions about how to use the trust property once the owner dies or becomes incapacitated (coma, dementia, etc.). Even though the trustee then becomes the legal owner of the trust assets, he or she has a legal duty to only use the trust assets according to the owner's instructions. A big reason trusts are so beneficial for estate planning is that you can set up a trust and transfer ownership of your property to it, then maintain control of the trust yourself while still alive. This is why it can help you keep your estate out of probate court. Learn more about trusts by reading our full guide.

The advance health care directive or 'Advance Directive' is a legal document that usually does two things: (1) provides instructions for your medical treatment if you become mentally incompetent and (2) designates someone to act as your health care agent (or 'health care proxy'). It gives you more control over your medical treatment, especially life sustaining treatment, and can also provide guidance on things like organ donation, mental health treatment, end-of-life care and more. To learn more about advance health care directives, read our full guide.

A power of attorney is a legal document that allows you to name another person (your “attorney-in-fact'”) to handle your finances. This becomes very useful in situations where you are no longer mentally competent (if you fell into a coma, suffered brain damage, acquired a mental disease, etc.). In such a situation, the power of attorney gives a person the financial power needed for things like paying bills, accessing bank accounts, filing your taxes, or managing your investments. To learn more about power of attorney, read our full guide.

Anyone with kids, a home, or any property they care enough about to have strong opinions on who gets it when they die. Your 'estate' refers to everything you own or have legal control over so estate planning allows you to be the one to make decisions about what happens to it when you die or lose mental capacity. To learn more about the importance of estate planning, read our full guide.

The vast majority of people have simple estates and can use Estate Engine to set up their will, trust, health care directive, and power of attorney absolutely free. Seriously, no cost. If your responses indicate that your estate is more complicated then we'll recommend you talk with an attorney and can even connect you with a vetted attorney who can complete your plan with you via video chat or call for $1,999.

No, even our free tier provides custom estate plan documents. Our online questionnaire gathers the information needed to determine how you want things handled (and provides helpful education in case you're not quite sure).

That is one difference between our free tier and paid tier. Notarization is not included in the free tier. In some states, notarization is required on some documents so you would need to take those documents to your local bank, use an online service like notarize.com, or hire a mobile notary to come to you. In the paid tier, the attorney can handle notarization digitally.