How We Test & Review Legal Document Services

We know you're trusting us with one of the most important decisions your family will face. That's why we hold ourselves to a strict, documented standard of independence. This page explains exactly how we evaluate legal document services — what we test, how we score, and who does the work.

Section 1: Our Testing Process

Our testing process follows the same seven steps for every service we evaluate. Here's exactly what we do:

1. 1
   Purchase at full retail price We create a new account under a test identity and pay the published price. No coupon codes, no affiliate discounts, no complimentary access. We experience exactly what a new customer experiences.
2. 2
   Create all four core estate planning documents We complete: Last Will & Testament, Living Trust (revocable), Durable Power of Attorney, and Advance Healthcare Directive. If a service doesn't offer all four, we note that clearly in our score.
3. 3
   Test in every available jurisdiction We test for each country the service supports: USA (multiple states), Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, and India. State-specific documents (e.g., Texas vs. California wills) are tested separately.
4. 4
   Time the entire process end-to-end From account creation to final PDF download, we record the exact time taken. We also note how many questions the service asks, how easy they are to understand, and whether any are confusing or ambiguous.
5. 5
   Review every output document in detail We download the final documents and review them line by line against standard legal requirements. We check: completeness of legal clauses, state/country-specific language, proper formatting for execution, and whether notarization or witness signature blocks are included.
6. 6
   Verify notarizability & witness requirements Our attorney reviewer (James Hartley, J.D.) confirms whether each document meets the witness and notarization standards for the applicable jurisdiction. A document that looks complete but fails to meet execution requirements is legally useless.
7. 7
   Test customer support across all channels We contact each service's support team via email, live chat, and phone (where available). We track: response time, accuracy of answers, professionalism, and whether they answer legal questions or correctly redirect to an attorney.

Section 2: Our Scoring Criteria

Every service receives a score out of 10.0. That score is a weighted average of five categories. Here's exactly how the weights break down and what we look for in each:

Section 3: Our Update Schedule

Legal document services change pricing, features, and availability frequently. Stale information can send readers to services that no longer meet the criteria we scored. Our update policy:

• Full re-test every 6 months: We re-purchase and re-test each service completely. Scores are recalculated from scratch — no grandfathering of old scores.
• Pricing verified monthly: We check published pricing for every service in our database each month and update articles within 48 hours of a price change.
• "Last verified" date on every review: Each review shows the exact date we last tested the service. If you see a date older than 6 months, flag it — we want to know.
• Breaking changes updated immediately: If a service shuts down, removes a key feature, or receives a significant legal complaint, we update that day.

Section 4: Editorial Independence

We earn money through affiliate commissions — when you click a link and buy a service, we receive a commission from that service provider. We believe you should know this upfront. Here's why it does not affect our rankings:

• Commissions are disclosed on every page where they exist. We are not hiding this relationship.
• Rankings are determined by scores, not commission rates. Our scores are calculated from the five criteria above. A service with a 9.2 ranks above one with an 8.4 regardless of which pays more commission.
• We accept zero paid placements. No service can pay to appear in our rankings, receive a higher score, or be featured in a comparison table. If a service offers us payment for placement, we decline — and we've declined offers.
• We publish negative reviews. If a service scores poorly, we say so clearly. Several services in our database have scores below 6.0. We won't hide that.
• Not every affiliate partner ranks highly. We have affiliate agreements with multiple services. Several of them rank in the middle or bottom of our comparisons. The agreement does not change the score.

Section 5: Our Team

Behind every review is a small team of writers, researchers, and legal professionals who care about getting this right. Here's who does the work: