Nobody likes to talk about death, nor getting older, nor making plans for your stuff when you’re gone. BUT it is both necessary and important, and FreeWill makes it easy to do all of this. A very menschy website, to say the least, FreeWill is 100 percent free to its users, and local to the Los Angeles area, it has partnered with Keren-Or, Emunah Of America, Hebrew Free Burial Association, the L.A. Jewish Home For Aging, and the International Fellowship of Christians & Jews alike. To date, more than 130,000 people have made wills on FreeWill’s platform.
One of FreeWill’s founders (Jenny Xia Spradling) used to make people lots of money and is now focused on helping people give that money away to charities. The other founder (Patrick Schmitt) used to run email fundraising efforts for President Obama. All in all, they have raised a literal BILLION dollars for charity, and the company is just barely 2 years old.
Co-founder 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 co-founder 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. Ms. Spradling spoke to me on behalf of the Jewish Journal in May 2020.
Darren Paltrowitz: FreeWill works with a number of great Los Angeles-based Jewish non-profit organizations. How exactly did that come about?
Jenny Xia Spradling: They are based all around the country! We serve all 50 states.
Darren Paltrowitz: How would you describe FreeWill to someone not yet familiar?
Jenny Xia Spradling: FreeWill helps people write their wills and complete their estate-planning. It is 100 percent free. The tool also makes it easy to leave money to charities, and many of our users do. In fact, our users are 6x more generous that the average will-writer, because we’ve made charitable giving so easy.
Darren Paltrowitz: How does preparing a will through FreeWill compare to making a traditional one through an attorney?
Jenny Xia Spradling: For basic estates, it is very similar. The website will ask a series of questions very similar to what an attorney would ask, and then uses those responses to populate forms that are specific to the state that the user is in.
For complex estates, we recommend that our users go to see attorneys. For example, if someone has kids with special needs, multiple marriages, or an estate over the estate tax threshold, or live in a state with a complex probate process such that a trust is a better idea. We actually alert users that they should use an attorney instead of FreeWill in the process.
This is because many people go into estate-planning, not knowing if they need an attorney or if an online will-making program will suffice. We then summarize their responses into an intake form called “documented wishes” that they can bring to an attorney. This can save people time and money when they do see an attorney since they are able to think about what they want ahead of time.
Darren Paltrowitz: When making a will through FreeWill, what has to be done beyond preparing it online?
Jenny Xia Spradling: It is very important to print and sign the will with the right witnesses. In most states, wills require 2 witnesses who don’t benefit from your will, and who aren’t family members. You can also optionally notarize your will. This is helpful in reducing the chances your witnesses get called to testify in probate court that your will is valid.
Darren Paltrowitz: What is coming up for FreeWill later this year?
Jenny Xia Spradling: FreeWill is launching a free Revocable Living Trust product in California later in the summer. This is really important because California has a more expensive and long probate process, meaning that beneficiaries could wait many months before any money is distributed from the estate.
Darren Paltrowitz: When not busy with FreeWill, where does your free time usually go?
Jenny Xia Spradling: These days, spending time with my parents. We are sheltering in place together, and the time is so precious!
Darren Paltrowitz: Finally, Jenny, any last words for the kids?
Jenny Xia Spradling: Writing your first will isn’t as scary or complicated as you think! On average, it takes people 20 minutes on our site.
More on FreeWill can be found here.
