Why Are Some Wills Free? Understanding the Business Model Behind It

If a will is free, something is paying for it — either you, later, in a way that isn't obvious upfront, or a business model that doesn't need you to pay at all. Understanding which one you're dealing with takes about five minutes, and it's worth doing before you hand over your financial details.

Model 1: The Lead-Generation Free Will

You fill in a free will, which requires disclosing your assets, your beneficiaries, and often your income. Within days, an "advisor" calls — because the free will was never really the product. It was the mechanism to capture qualified leads for life insurance, retirement annuities, or investment products. Your will was the hook; you were the lead.

Model 2: Free Will, Paid Everything Else

The will itself is free, but the features that make it actually useful — secure storage, the ability to update it, a certificate proving it's authentic, a digital vault for crypto or online accounts — sit behind a subscription that kicks in after a trial period, or are priced as individual add-ons that add up quickly.

Model 3: The Attorney Loss-Leader

A law firm offers a free initial will as a way to bring in clients, expecting (reasonably) that many of those clients will need paid legal services later — property transfers, business structuring, trust work. This isn't necessarily dishonest, but it's a client-acquisition strategy, not a gift.

Model 4: Mission-Driven / Open Source

Some platforms are built specifically because the founders believe access to a legally valid will shouldn't depend on what you can afford, and they aren't trying to monetise your data or upsell you afterward. urWill is built this way — open source (the code is publicly auditable, not a black box), with the will, the blockchain certificate, the digital vault, and the executor briefing pack all included at no cost, permanently.

How to Tell the Difference

Ask yourself: does the platform need your phone number and estimated asset value before you can start? Is there a "your free trial ends in X days" countdown anywhere? Is storage, updating, or a certificate of authenticity a separate paid feature? If yes to any of these, it's probably Model 1 or 2 — see our companion piece, questions to ask before accepting a free will, for a full vetting checklist.

Free Doesn't Have to Mean a Catch

Not every free will is a trap — but you should be able to tell which kind you're using. urWill has no advisor calls, no paid tiers hiding behind the free plan, and no subscription that kicks in later. See for yourself — create your will online, free.