FreeWill Co is a company whose website, FreeWill.com, has online software which helps people write wills and make charitable contributions, and it reports each person's planned bequests to charities which pay subscription fees.
Business model
Three hundred charities pay a few thousand dollars to $50,000 per year in order to have the charity's name included in the software, and receive reports of the name, address, assets, and planned bequest for each donor who agrees. For donors who do not release information to the charity, FreeWill can still send the charity aggregate data, and they do not say how much detail these aggregates have. Unlike most estate planning, the software asks users specifically if they want to give to charities, and automatically looks up the EIN and address of subscribing charities, which users would otherwise find on their own. The company's products include wills, living wills, qualified charitable distributions and stock donations. They do not offer a living trust, which most estate lawyers would prepare to keep the estate private and out of probate. After entering all will information, users have options to download the will; or get more information; or see a lawyer, in which case the site offers the American Bar Association directory of all lawyers. Users with over $10 million in assets and users in California also see a suggestion that they see a lawyer. If users ask for more information the site makes no recommendations, but notes that some people prefer to use a lawyer if they are getting divorced, or have out-of-state property, a business, a dependent with a disability, someone who may contest the will, children from multiple marriages, a premarital agreement, a caregiver as beneficiary, or assets over the estate tax exemption. They do not give reasons why any of these calls for a lawyer, but others say that having a lawyer involved is good protection against anyone questioning whether the decedent was mentally qualified. Others say that having any house, not just one out of state, calls for a lawyer.
Market
As of March 2020, 50,000 people have prepared wills on the platform, 19% have included bequests to charities, and bequests average $111,000. The planned bequests total $1 billion. The largest numbers of donations have been for the American Red Cross, United Way, Defenders of Wildlife and Disabled American Veterans. The average user is 57 years old. FreeWill expects to expand to Canada, Western Europe, Australia, Japan and China.
Privacy
While lawyers are involved in writing the software, FreeWill is not a law firm and does not have an attorney-client relationship with customers. Privacy statements let the company store information on assets, heirs and bequests and use it to target ads and fund-raising appeals. FreeWill explicitly advises charities to use information they receive from the software to build relationships with potential donors and raise more money. For these purposes FreeWill collects total assets, age and address, as well as information used in writing the will. They track visits and actions elsewhere on the web over time, and ignore Do Not Track requests. FreeWill will transfer their information to any larger company which acquires them. They acknowledge that information can escape in security breaches, for which they do not accept liability. They can amend the privacy statement by posting a notice on the site.
Competition
FreeWill is free to users. Its competitors include other online services, some free, some offering trusts and other services. One competitor offers downloadable software so the software company does not see users' wills and trusts, which is available from libraries, This downloadable competitor is linked from some nonprofits' websites, as FreeWill is. Competitors also include lawyers, with flat fees of $1,200-$2,000, and there are lawyer rating systems such as Martindale-Hubbell. Members and dependents of the US military have access to lawyers at Judge Advocate offices. Consumer Reports notes that people resist hiring a lawyer for a will, even though they hire professionals for hairdressing, mowing and tax preparation. Lawyers have boilerplate wording, which they adjust for almost every client. The lawyer's work is confidential, under Attorney–client privilege, and is covered by errors and omissions insurance in case of major problems. In Britain, competition includes free wills from solicitors and from the online firm, Bequeathed. Lawyers have said that a will and trust created by software are better and faster than none, though not as good as a custom product and counsel from a lawyer.
Dispute resolution
FreeWill, like other companies which produce will-writing software, disclaims liability for errors and omissions in their software; they also note that laws change rapidly. If people nevertheless have disputes with the company, the users and company agree to use small claims courts or individual arbitration in New York City under "Commercial Arbitration Rules that contemplate in-person hearings." The company's offices are in New York City, and it is incorporated in Delaware.
