FreeWill

FreeWill is a United States public benefit corporation founded at Stanford University in 2017 by Jennifer Xia Spradling and Patrick Schmitt. Its business combines consumer estate-planning software with charitable fundraising infrastructure. The company’s stated social missions are to broaden access to basic estate planning regardless of a person’s background or ability to pay, and to make it easier for individuals to direct money to charitable organizations through their estates and other financial decisions. The company’s principal consumer service is an online platform that guides users through the preparation of documents such as wills and advance healthcare directives. It also supports durable financial powers of attorney, qualified charitable distributions, stock donations, and related giving workflows. A living-trust product is available for users in California. After completing the relevant questionnaire, users may download their documents, obtain additional information, or seek legal assistance. The platform directs users who want a lawyer to the American Bar Association’s lawyer directory. FreeWill emphasizes that it is not a law firm and that use of its software does not create an attorney-client relationship. FreeWill’s charitable model is based on institutional subscriptions. Charities pay to have their names and giving information included in the platform. When users consent, participating charities receive reports about planned gifts, potentially including donor identity, contact information, assets, and the intended bequest. Users are not required to leave money to a charity in order to use the estate-planning tools. This model allows FreeWill to offer core will-writing access without charging consumers directly while giving nonprofit organizations a way to identify and cultivate prospective legacy donors. The platform emerged from Patrick Schmitt’s experience in political fundraising and his own effort to prepare an estate plan. He concluded that a simpler digital process could reduce barriers to estate planning and, at the same time, create a channel for charitable giving. The company’s public-benefit status legally commits it to pursuing its social purposes alongside financial objectives. Town & Country magazine included FreeWill’s founding among its top 50 philanthropic efforts of 2019. According to figures reported for June 2021, approximately 295,000 people had prepared wills through the platform. About 19 percent had included charitable bequests, with average planned bequests reported at approximately $111,000 and aggregate planned bequests of about $3 billion. The charities associated with the largest reported donation volumes included the American Red Cross, United Way, Defenders of Wildlife, and Disabled American Veterans. The average user was reported to be 57 years old. FreeWill’s service involves highly sensitive information, including assets, family circumstances, intended beneficiaries, medical preferences, and religious preferences. Its privacy disclosures state that information may be used for advertising and fundraising targeting and acknowledge the possibility of security breaches. The company also disclaims responsibility for errors or omissions in its software and notes that estate-planning laws change over time. Its terms provide for small-claims proceedings or individual arbitration in New York City for disputes, while the company is incorporated in Delaware.

FreeWill was established at Stanford University in 2017 by Jennifer Xia Spradling and Patrick Schmitt. Its creation followed Schmitt’s work in political fundraising and his personal experience of preparing an estate plan. That experience led him to consider whether a website could make will preparation easier for ordinary users while also helping charitable organizations receive more planned gifts. Spradling and Schmitt developed the concept as a public benefit corporation, giving the company an explicit social purpose in addition to its commercial objectives. The company’s central idea was to remove two barriers at once. Estate planning is often postponed because conventional legal services can be expensive or intimidating, while charitable bequests can be difficult for donors and nonprofit organizations to organize. FreeWill’s software guides users through questions about family, assets, beneficiaries, and end-of-life preferences, then allows them to create and download relevant documents. The platform does not require users to make a charitable gift. Instead, it presents charitable options and enables participating nonprofits to receive information about prospective bequests when users authorize that disclosure. FreeWill’s nonprofit-facing business model relies on subscription fees paid by charities. In exchange, a participating organization may be listed in the platform and may receive reports concerning users who identify it as a prospective beneficiary. These reports can contain information such as the donor’s name, address, assets, and intended bequest, subject to the user’s consent. The arrangement turns a free or low-barrier consumer planning experience into a planned-giving acquisition and stewardship tool for nonprofit institutions. The company expanded its document range beyond basic wills. Its offerings have included durable financial powers of attorney, qualified charitable distribution workflows, stock-donation tools, and living wills, also known as advance healthcare directives or healthcare powers of attorney. A living-trust product has been offered in California, reflecting the jurisdiction-specific nature of estate law. Users who want professional advice can be directed to the American Bar Association’s lawyer directory, but FreeWill states that it is not a law firm and does not create an attorney-client relationship through its software. By 2019, the company had attracted recognition for combining technology with philanthropy: Town & Country ranked its founding among the year’s top 50 philanthropic efforts. By June 2021, the platform was reported to have been used by approximately 295,000 people to prepare wills. Nineteen percent were reported to have included charitable bequests, with total planned bequests of about $3 billion and an average planned bequest of roughly $111,000. The reported leading recipient organizations included the American Red Cross, United Way, Defenders of Wildlife, and Disabled American Veterans. The service also generated privacy and legal-risk considerations. Estate-planning questionnaires can involve sensitive financial, family, medical, and religious information. FreeWill’s disclosures state that information may be used to target advertising and fundraising communications and acknowledge that no security system can eliminate the risk of a breach. Its terms disclaim liability for software errors and omissions and caution that laws can change. The company’s dispute provisions refer to small-claims proceedings or individual arbitration in New York City, while the business is incorporated in Delaware and has offices in New York City.

• 2021

  Platform reports 295,000 wills prepared

  [1]FreeWillen.wikipedia.org

  Figures reported for June 2021 indicated that approximately 295,000 people had prepared wills through FreeWill and that planned charitable bequests totaled about $3 billion.

• 2019

  Founding recognized as a philanthropic effort

  [1]FreeWillen.wikipedia.org

  Town & Country included FreeWill’s founding in its list of the top 50 philanthropic efforts of 2019.

• 2017

  FreeWill founded at Stanford University

  [1]FreeWillen.wikipedia.org

  Jennifer Xia Spradling and Patrick Schmitt founded FreeWill as a public benefit corporation focused on accessible estate planning and charitable giving.

A mission-driven digital estate-planning and charitable-giving platform positioned around free consumer access, simplified document creation, and nonprofit development of planned gifts.

• Estate-planning software

  Online wills

  FreeWill’s core product guides users through the information needed to prepare a basic will online. Users can identify beneficiaries, address assets and bequests, and choose whether to include a charitable gift. After completing the process, users can download the resulting document or seek further information and legal assistance. The service is designed to lower the cost and complexity of initial estate planning, but FreeWill states that it is not a law firm and does not provide an attorney-client relationship.

• Healthcare and estate-planning documents

  Advance healthcare directives

  The platform supports living wills and advance healthcare directives, including documents sometimes described as healthcare powers of attorney. These tools allow users to record preferences concerning medical treatment and designate decision-making arrangements. Because healthcare and estate-planning requirements vary by jurisdiction, the product is presented as software assistance rather than individualized legal advice.

• Legal document software

  Durable financial power of attorney

  FreeWill offers a workflow for preparing a durable financial power of attorney, a document used to authorize another person to handle specified financial matters. The service forms part of the company’s broader effort to provide accessible foundational estate-planning documents through guided online questionnaires.

• Estate-planning software

  California living trust

  FreeWill provides a living-trust offering in California. Its geographic limitation reflects the fact that trust and estate-planning rules differ among jurisdictions. The product extends the platform beyond simple wills for eligible California users, while remaining subject to FreeWill’s disclosures that the software is not a substitute for individualized legal counsel.

• Philanthropy software

  Charitable giving tools

  The platform includes workflows for qualified charitable distributions and stock donations, as well as mechanisms for recording intended charitable bequests. These tools connect individual financial and estate-planning decisions with nonprofit fundraising. Participating charities pay subscription fees and may receive donor information about planned gifts when the donor agrees to share it.

• 2017

  Adopted a public-benefit corporate structureStrategy

  Background

  The founders designed FreeWill around two stated missions: expanding access to estate planning and making charitable giving easier.

  Action taken

  FreeWill was established as a public benefit corporation, requiring the company to pursue its social objectives alongside financial returns.

  Aftermath

  The structure became central to the company’s positioning as a mission-driven estate-planning and philanthropic technology business.

  Source

• 2017

  Built a subscription-funded charitable modelStrategy

  Background

  FreeWill sought to provide consumers with accessible estate-planning software while creating a sustainable revenue stream.

  Action taken

  The company made participating charities the paying customers: nonprofits subscribe to be represented in the platform and may receive reports about authorized prospective bequests.

  Aftermath

  The model connected free consumer planning access with nonprofit planned-giving development, while making privacy consent and handling of sensitive donor information important operational issues.

  Source

1. 1FreeWillen.wikipedia.org
2. 2FreeWill official websitefreewill.com