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An estate plan is a legally enforceable set of guidelines designed to protect you and your loved ones in case of medical incapacity or death. It specifies who receives your assets, who makes medical decisions if you're unable to, and who cares for your children if needed. All of these decisions are laid out in a set of legal documents that must be followed by physicians, loved ones, and the legal system. It's your way of ensuring your wishes are followed and your family is protected. Without an estate plan, state laws determine these important decisions, which can lead to lengthy court proceedings and added stress for your family.

Better Off empowers you to create a plan that's best for your family in as little as 20 minutes, with progress automatically saved if you prefer to take more time. Once your plan is complete, your legal documents are generated and, once notarized, are legally effective in your state. Unlike attorneys that require payment per copy or platforms with limited downloads, you can review and update your plan anytime.

Online estate planning provides the same legal documents as traditional attorneys but through a more accessible process. While traditional attorneys require office visits and charge high hourly rates, Better Off is a fully-online service designed by attorneys to create quality documents at a fraction of the cost. Once properly signed and notarized, our documents carry the same legal weight as those from a traditional attorney.

Estate plans come in two main forms: ones where asset distribution is decided by a will and ones where asset distribution is decided by a trust. A will names guardians and decision makers and can also direct who receives your assets, but it does require going through probate—a lengthy court process that typically takes a long time, costs thousands, and makes estate details public. A trust avoids probate, offering greater privacy and direct, speedy asset transfer to your loved ones. Better Off offers both types of estate plans. The Essential Plan distributes assets through a will, and the Comprehensive Plan distributes them through a trust.

Currently, Better Off is intended to be used by an individual or couple looking to create a plan for their use. If you are an attorney or paralegal looking to use digital tools to provide better services to your clients, welcome to the team! Please reach out to us directly at support@getbetteroff.com to be notified when we launch our affiliate program.

For Individual Plans, you as the owner of your account are the only one who can view your plan details. For Couples plans, you and the spouse or partner you list in the Family section will always see each others’ plan details, including sections that are linked together as well as sections that are specific to you.

Sharing your plan is a great way to give the important people in your life access to your wishes for them to execute on your behalf. You can share view access to your Better Off plan by following these steps:

•  Log in at plan.getbetteroff.com
•  On your home dashboard, click on a button in the bottom right that has an upward arrow.
•  In the panel that opens, you can choose the access type and enter their contact information.
•  Once your invitee creates a Better Off account, they will be able to log in and view your plan info.

You can check the status or revoke their access in the Contacts tab of your home dashboard. Note that for Couples Plans, you and the spouse or partner you list in the Family section will always see each others’ plan details, including sections that are linked together as well as sections that are specific to you.

Creating an estate plan with Better Off simplifies the process of planning for your incapacity or death, but there are a few steps you’ll need to take to ensure your plans are carried out effectively:

•  Download and print your documents.
•  Contact a notary and gather witnesses, in accordance with the instructions in your document packet export. Notary fees are not included in Better Off’s service.
•  Make copies of your signed documents and share them with trusted contacts. You may also want to share view access to your Better Off plan for easy digital access to your plan.
•  If you have a Comprehensive Plan with a trust, transfer deeds or retitle assets as needed.

As your life changes, you can return to your Better Off plan to make updates easily.

You will need to follow local and state rules to deed a property or retitle an asset into the trust yourself, as deeding property is not covered by our service.

To retitle your real property assets, you will prepare a deed documenting that you, as an individual, transferred your assets to you as the trustee of your trust.

To retitle your financial assets, you will take or send your completed trust document to your financial institutions holding your accounts. You must request that the financial institution change the name of the account to the trust name. These accounts will still remain associated to your social security number and these assets remain yours to control.

To retitle a business that you own, you will need to review the instructions in the business operating agreement and potentially work with an attorney to transfer ownership of the business to the trust. If you are seeking to manage business options through your trust, you should speak with an attorney, a tax professional, and your financial advisor. Often purchase and sale options are not transferrable, and the business's rules determine this. Better Off does not provide a separate section to input of business options due to the level of complexity.

Some tangible personal property, like cars, must be transferred through a title. Each instance is unique to that type of property.

Note: This is not legal advice nor intended to cover every possible circumstance in your estate planning. If you have specific questions, you may want to speak with an attorney.

Wills and trusts are two different methods for distributing assets after you die.

A will goes into effect after you die, directing how your assets are distributed and naming guardians for your children. It requires going through probate court, which can be public and time-consuming.

A trust goes into effect immediately after creation, holds your assets during your lifetime, and distributes them after you die. It offers more privacy, avoids probate, and provides more flexible control over how and when your assets are distributed—saving your family time and money. Using a will without a trust is also effective, but requires going through probate court, which can be costly and time-consuming, and its proceeds are in the public record.

A trust is beneficial for most families who want to avoid probate, maintain privacy, and ensure a smooth transfer of assets to loved ones. While it's especially helpful for those with property in multiple states or complex family situations, its advantages of privacy, control, and probate avoidance make it valuable for individuals and families planning an estate of any size.

A notarized estate plan is considered valid indefinitely as long as the document itself doesn't have an expiration date. Note that as you build your estate plan with Better Off, you will have the choice to make certain documents expire, depending on your preferences.

If you choose not to add expiration dates, the documents generated by Better Off do not expire, which means they remains legally binding unless specific laws in your jurisdiction change or state otherwise. All Better Off documents are generated in accordance with these jurisdictional laws at the time of download.

To make it legally effective, notarization is required along with a few final steps to ensure your wishes are protected.

You will need to download and print the documents generated by Better Off’s planning tool. Within that document packet are instructions on the notarization and witness requirements, but you will need to work separately with a notary to fully execute your estate plan. In most states, notarization for estate plans needs to happen in person, which is more than what Better Off’s digital tools can offer.

Though Better Off helps you avoid the cost of hiring an attorney, contacting and paying for a notary is not included in our offerings.

You can view your payment information on the account page under the Billing section. Better Off will proactively contact you if your payment information fails.

At Better Off, we stand behind our estate planning services with a 30-day satisfaction guarantee. If you're not happy with the planning service, we'll review your refund request and work to understand your concerns. Please note that submission does not guarantee approval, and, if you've downloaded your documents, you've received the complete Better Off service and are no longer eligible for a refund.

View specific refund request instructions here.

Better Off’s founding team is a passionate group of individuals with a combined 30+ years of experience in estate planning and technology. You can learn more about our team and our mission here.

If you are experiencing an issue, please reach out to support@getbetteroff.com for assistance.

To create your estate plan, you'll be asked to provide basic information about your decision makers, beneficiaries, and family members, but only their names, birthdates, and email addresses. You'll also be asked to name and describe your assets, including descriptions and, for any real estate, addresses. You won't need to provide any other sensitive information like social security numbers, medical records, or financial account numbers. Better Off uses SOC 2 Type II security standards and HIPAA-compliant practices to protect the information you share, and processes payments securely through Stripe. Your personal data is never sold or shared with third parties, and you can delete your account data at any time.