Estate Planning Online: Set Up Your Plan From Home

You no longer have to sit in a lawyer’s office to put your affairs in order. Estate planning online lets you create the core documents, and in many cases get them notarized, from home. Here is what you can do online, what still needs extra care, and how to start.

What you can set up online

The main estate planning documents can all be prepared online:

• A last will and testament, to say who inherits what
• A living trust, to pass assets outside of probate
• A power of attorney, so someone can act on your finances if you cannot
• A health care proxy, to name who makes medical decisions for you

How estate planning online works

You answer guided questions, the platform generates documents that fit your state, and you download them to sign. You can do all of that at your own pace, for far less than the traditional route. The signing is where it changes. New York excludes wills, trusts, powers of attorney, health care proxies and do not resuscitate consents from electronic signature, so we execute those documents on paper, in person, with the required witnesses present. Preparing online and signing in person is the combination that actually works in New York.

What still needs extra care

Online is convenient, but signing rules still apply. In New York, a will needs two witnesses, and a notarized self-proving affidavit is strongly recommended, see does a will need to be notarized in New York? A power of attorney and other documents have their own signing and notarization requirements. That is where we come in: we make sure your documents are correctly notarized so they hold up.

Where to start

Our Estate Planning Center walks you through each document, and we handle the notarization, in person or online. If your situation is complex, an attorney is still worth it, but for many people, planning online plus proper notarization is all it takes.

The signing rules are where plans fail

Nearly every defective estate plan we see is defective at the signing rather than in the drafting. The document said the right thing and was executed the wrong way.

A New York will is signed in front of two witnesses, and there are specific requirements about how the signing is conducted and what the witnesses attest to. A self proving affidavit, sworn by the witnesses in front of a notary, is what spares your family the job of tracking those witnesses down years later to prove the will. It is optional and it is the single most useful optional thing you can do.

A health care proxy has its own witness requirement. A power of attorney has its own execution rules and, where you want an agent to make gifts on your behalf, additional formalities that people routinely skip.

None of this is complicated once somebody tells you. Almost nobody tells you.

Why New York keeps these on paper

New York’s electronic signature law carves out wills, trusts, powers of attorney, health care proxies and do not resuscitate consents. That is deliberate. These are the documents most likely to be challenged after the signer can no longer explain what happened, and the state wants a physical signing with live witnesses in the room.

Which is why we do not notarize them online, and why an offer to handle your New York will over video should worry you rather than impress you. Prepare online, then sign in person. We come to you anywhere in the five boroughs.

Funding a trust, and the step everyone skips

A living trust that owns nothing does nothing. Creating the trust document is half the job. Transferring assets into it, meaning retitling the property, the accounts and the interests you intended it to hold, is the other half, and it is the half that gets abandoned once the folder looks impressive.

If a trust is part of your plan, make a written list of what has to be moved into it and work through the list.

Beneficiary designations quietly override your will

Retirement accounts, life insurance and payable on death accounts pass to whoever is named on the form. Your will does not touch them.

So a will leaving everything to your current spouse does not redirect a policy that still names an ex spouse from 1998. Pull every designation you have and read it. This takes an afternoon and it corrects more real world outcomes than the will itself.

When you need an attorney rather than a platform

Be honest about this. Property in more than one state, a blended family, a child with a disability, a business interest, a taxable estate, Medicaid planning, an heir you intend to leave out, or any family member likely to contest. Each of those is a reason to pay for advice rather than a form.

What we do is the execution: correct signing, correct witnesses, correct notarization, in person across the five boroughs. A New York notary cannot draft your documents or tell you what they mean, and we will say so rather than guess.

The four documents, and what each one is actually for

People collect these without being clear on the division of labor between them, which is how you end up with three documents that overlap and one gap that matters.

A will speaks only after death. It says who inherits what, names an executor, and where there are minor children, nominates a guardian. That last function is the one parents underestimate and it is often the single most important line in the document.

A living trust also deals with what happens after death, but it can hold assets during your life and pass them without probate. It is more work up front and more useful where there is property in more than one state, a desire for privacy, or a plan that unfolds over time rather than all at once.

A power of attorney operates while you are alive. It lets somebody handle your finances if you cannot. This is the document families most often wish they had, because incapacity arrives without warning and a will is useless for it.

A health care proxy names who speaks for you on medical decisions. Pair it with a written statement of your wishes so the person you named is not guessing under pressure.

Do the order right

Start with the power of attorney and the health care proxy rather than the will. They protect you while you are alive, they are the fastest to complete, and the situations they cover tend to arrive first.

Then do the will. Then, if your situation calls for it, look at a trust. Working in that order means that if you stall halfway through, which most people do, you stalled after the useful part rather than before it.

Storage, and telling somebody

Keep the originals together somewhere your executor and your health care agent can actually reach. A safe deposit box that nobody else can open is a common and costly mistake, because access after death can require the very authority the document inside would have provided.

Give copies of the health care proxy to your doctor and to the person you named, and tell at least two people where the originals live.

Review it when life changes

Not annually. On events. A marriage, a divorce, a birth, a death, a move to another state, a significant change in what you own, or the person you named becoming unable or unwilling to serve. Each of those is a reason to read what you signed and ask whether it still says what you mean.

Frequently asked questions

Is an online will legally valid?

Yes, if it meets your state’s signing and witness rules. In New York that means signing in front of two witnesses.

Can I notarize my estate documents online?

Not the core estate documents. New York excludes wills, trusts, powers of attorney, health care proxies and do not resuscitate consents from electronic signature, so we sign those in person on paper. Other documents, such as affidavits and general releases, can be notarized online.

Do I need a lawyer?

Not always. For a straightforward estate, online documents plus proper notarization are often enough. Complex estates benefit from an attorney.

This article is general information, not legal advice. For complex estates, consult a licensed attorney.