FreeWill Launches Industry First, Free Revocable Living Trust in California

NEW YORK, Aug. 26, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital estate planning platform FreeWill, expanded their free online tools to include revocable living trusts for California residents. This new offering will allow people to make a completely free revocable living trust, and joins FreeWill's suite of existing online services including advanced healthcare directives, financial power of attorney and wills. 

"We want to best the estate planning solution for people of any background and the probate-avoidance benefits of a revocable living trust help our California users avoid their state's uniquely costly and time-consuming probate process," shared co-CEO of FreeWill.com Jenny Xia Spradling. "Estate planning is not usually top of mind for most people, but is essential to save your loved ones from a stressful situation".

The main advantage of using a living trust is that it can avoid the time and expense of the legal proceedings called probate.  In states where probate is particularly lengthy and expensive — like California where a percentage of your overall estate is taken by the state— this can be very important and may result in significant savings for the grantor's estate, leaving more assets for the beneficiaries.

"A revocable living trust is a contract between you and the person you choose as your trustee to take over responsibility for your assets after you pass away" said co-CEO of FreeWill.com Patrick Schmitt. "A trustee does not have to work under the supervision of a probate court, like an executor of a will is required to. We're proud to offer living trusts as another way to simplify the estate process and educate people on the free options that are available."

For people concerned about public proceedings, another advantage of a living trust is that it can be administered in private. The public proceedings of the legal process probate could create delays in distributing financial or property assets to its named beneficiaries.

Earlier this month in celebration of National Make-A-Will Month FreeWill launched its first consumer ad campaign to get the nearly 50% of Americans who don't have one to create a will. August serves as a reminder to update existing wills and reminder of the risks in not having a will in place. Revocable Living Trusts is the latest initiative users of FreeWill can enjoy as the startup continues to make significant advancements in the digital estate planning industry. 

ABOUT FREEWILL
FreeWill is an award-winning social venture founded by graduate students at Stanford University in 2016, with the help and support of many of the world's leading experts in law, design, and philanthropy.

Patrick Schmitt is a leading innovator in nonprofit fundraising and technology for social impact. He is the founder of two nonprofit organizations, and ran email fundraising for President Obama from 2009-2010, generating record amounts in online donations. He was also the Head of Innovation at Change.org, where he helped grow that organization to 100 million users in just four years.

Jenny Xia Spradling is a veteran of McKinsey and Bain Capital, where she helped to launch the firm's first impact investment fund. She is the cofounder of Paribus, which was recently acquired by Capital One. She graduated from Harvard University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar finalist and finished at the top of her class. In 2018 Jenny was named one of Forbes' 30 under 30.

Jenny & Patrick serve as Co-CEOs of FreeWill.

For more information visit www.FreeWill.com

Media Contact:
Emily McDonough
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SOURCE FreeWill