U.S. Legal Document Tools
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Most of this site is about what lawyers charge. This page is about the other half of the question: which routine legal documents you can reasonably prepare yourself, and which ones you should not. Every document listed here is a United States version. Nothing on this page is legal advice, and the provider linked from this page is not a law firm.
The honest summary is short. Template documents work when the situation is ordinary, the parties agree, and your state's rules are clear. They stop working the moment there is a dispute, a deadline set by a court, money or property that is genuinely contested, or a fact pattern that a form cannot ask about. If you are in that second category, the money is better spent on an attorney than on a document.
Estate Planning
This is the category where do-it-yourself documents hold up best, because the decisions are yours to make and the formalities are published. It is also the category where a bad document does the most damage, since the person who signed it is not around to correct it.
Last Will and Testament
Use it for: naming beneficiaries, an executor, and a guardian for minor children when your estate is straightforward.
Do not use it for: blended families, business interests, estate-tax exposure, disinheriting a spouse, or anything you expect to be contested.
Compare with will preparation costs · Jurisdiction: United States
Living Will and Medical Power of Attorney
Use it for: recording end-of-life treatment preferences and naming a health-care agent.
Do not use it for: situations where capacity is already in question, or where family members disagree about care.
Compare with estate planning attorney fees · Jurisdiction: United States
Power of Attorney
Use it for: authorising someone to handle financial or property matters, generally or for a limited purpose.
Do not use it for: granting authority to someone you are not certain you can trust, or where a court has already appointed a guardian or conservator.
Compare with power of attorney costs · Jurisdiction: United States
Revocable Living Trust
Use it for: holding assets in a trust to keep them out of probate when the estate is simple.
Do not use it for: tax-driven planning, funding the trust correctly, or any estate where the transfer of title is complicated. Funding is where most DIY trusts fail.
Compare with estate planning attorney fees · Jurisdiction: United States
Family and Divorce
Documents help here only when the parties already agree. Nothing on this list resolves a dispute, and nothing on it substitutes for representation in a contested case involving children, support, or property.
Separation Agreement
Use it for: writing down terms two spouses have already agreed on before filing.
Do not use it for: any case where custody, support, or property division is genuinely disputed, or where there is a history of coercion or abuse.
Compare with divorce attorney fees · Jurisdiction: United States
Separation / Divorce Papers
Use it for: assembling the paperwork for an uncontested separation or divorce.
Do not use it for: contested proceedings, or as a replacement for your county court’s own required forms and filing procedure.
Compare with divorce attorney fees · Jurisdiction: United States
Prenuptial Agreement
Use it for: setting out how property and debts are treated if a marriage ends.
Do not use it for: a prenup you want to hold up under pressure. Enforceability turns on disclosure, timing, and independent review — all of which a template cannot supply.
Compare with family law attorney fees · Jurisdiction: United States
Power of Attorney for Child
Use it for: authorising a named adult to make day-to-day decisions for a child for a limited period, for example during travel or medical treatment.
Do not use it for: custody. This is not a custody order, it does not override one, and it has no effect in a custody case.
Compare with child custody attorney fees · Jurisdiction: United States
Landlord and Tenant
A written, state-specific lease prevents a large share of the disputes that later cost thousands. Notices are different: they are procedural documents with rules a court will check.
Residential Lease Agreement
Use it for: setting the terms of a residential tenancy in writing, drafted to your state’s rules.
Do not use it for: commercial premises, or fixing a tenancy that has already broken down.
Compare with landlord–tenant attorney fees · Jurisdiction: United States
Eviction Notice
Use it for: serving the notice your state requires before an eviction can be filed.
Do not use it for: the eviction itself. A contested eviction, a habitability defence, or a fair-housing allegation is attorney work. Notice rules are strict and getting them wrong restarts the clock.
Compare with eviction costs · Jurisdiction: United States
Real Estate
Preparing the document yourself narrows what you are paying an attorney to do. It does not remove the attorney or title company from the closing in the states that require one.
Real Estate Purchase Agreement
Use it for: setting out price, contingencies, and closing terms between a buyer and a seller.
Do not use it for: the closing itself, title problems, or any transaction where a lender, an estate, or a dispute is involved.
Compare with real estate attorney fees · Jurisdiction: United States
Quitclaim Deed
Use it for: transferring whatever interest you hold to someone else — typically between family members or into a trust.
Do not use it for: a sale to a third party. A quitclaim gives no warranty of title, and recording and tax consequences vary by county. Confirm both before you file.
Compare with deed preparation costs · Jurisdiction: United States
Business and Contracts
Routine commercial paperwork is the strongest case for templates. Negotiated agreements, investor terms, and anything with real downside risk are not.
LLC Operating Agreement
Use it for: recording ownership, management, and distributions for a simple LLC.
Do not use it for: multi-class ownership, investor terms, buy-sell provisions, or partners who do not yet agree.
Compare with business attorney fees · Jurisdiction: United States
Non-Disclosure Agreement
Use it for: a standard mutual or one-way confidentiality agreement before a commercial conversation.
Do not use it for: protecting anything you cannot afford to lose, or where the other side will negotiate the terms.
Compare with contract drafting costs · Jurisdiction: United States
Service Agreement
Use it for: scope, price, and payment terms for routine services between two businesses or a business and a client.
Do not use it for: regulated services, high-liability work, or contracts with indemnity and insurance terms that need review.
Compare with business attorney fees · Jurisdiction: United States
Trademark Registration
Use it for: preparing and filing a straightforward trademark application.
Do not use it for: clearance searching, likelihood-of-confusion analysis, or responding to an office action — which is where most of the value of a trademark attorney sits.
Compare with trademark attorney fees · Jurisdiction: United States
Employment
These are employer-side documents. If you are the worker and something has already gone wrong — a termination, a wage problem, a discrimination claim — nothing on this list helps you, and an employment attorney will.
Employment Contract
Use it for: setting out role, pay, and terms when hiring an employee.
Do not use it for: restrictive covenants you intend to enforce, or jurisdictions with specific statutory requirements you have not checked.
Compare with employment attorney fees · Jurisdiction: United States
Independent Contractor Agreement
Use it for: defining scope, payment, and ownership of work with a contractor.
Do not use it for: papering over a relationship that is really employment. Classification is decided by the facts, not by the label on the contract.
Compare with employment attorney fees · Jurisdiction: United States
Employment Termination Letter
Use it for: documenting an ordinary, uncontested end of employment.
Do not use it for: any termination involving a protected characteristic, a complaint, a leave of absence, or a severance negotiation. Those need advice before the letter goes out.
Compare with wrongful termination costs · Jurisdiction: United States
Consumer and Small Claims
Most small claims cases are filed and argued without a lawyer, which makes this the category where a good document does the most work per dollar.
Demand for Payment Letter
Use it for: a documented written demand for payment before filing in small claims.
Do not use it for: debts governed by the FDCPA if you are collecting on someone else’s behalf, or matters already in litigation.
Compare with small claims court costs · Jurisdiction: United States
Settlement Agreement (Release of Liability)
Use it for: recording the terms of a settlement, including a release, once both sides have agreed.
Do not use it for: anything with ongoing obligations, structured payments, or a party who has not had a chance to take advice.
Compare with mediation costs · Jurisdiction: United States
When you need advice, not a document
Sometimes the problem is not a missing document — it is a question nobody has answered. Online legal-advice subscriptions price by the month rather than by the hour, which can be cheaper than a paid consultation for a single narrow question.
Talk to a Lawyer (online legal advice subscription)
Use it for: asking a narrow question when you are not ready to retain anyone.
Do not use it for: representation. LawDepot is not a law firm, a subscription is not an attorney–client relationship, and nothing about it covers a hearing, a filing deadline, or a matter already in dispute.
Compare with lawyer consultation fees · Jurisdiction: United States
When not to use a template
There is no polite way to put this list, so here it is plainly. Do not rely on a template document if any of the following is true:
- The other side has a lawyer and you do not.
- A court has set a deadline, or a case has already been filed.
- The money or property at stake would be painful to lose.
- Someone’s liberty, immigration status, or physical safety is involved.
- The document has to survive a challenge — a contested will, a prenup, a non-compete.
- You would not be able to explain, in a sentence, what each clause does.
- Your state has a formality you have not verified: witnesses, notarisation, recording, or specific statutory language.
In every one of those situations the cheapest outcome is usually the one where you paid an attorney early. Our lawyer cost guide and the lawyer cost calculator exist to make that number less of a surprise.
When to hire an attorney
Hiring does not have to mean full representation. Limited-scope representation — sometimes called unbundled legal services — lets you pay for document review, coaching before a hearing, or help with a single filing, without retaining someone for the whole matter. For many readers that is the middle path between a $0 template and a $5,000 retainer.
If cost is the obstacle, start with legal aid, your state bar’s referral service, court self-help centres, and law school clinics. Can I afford a lawyer? walks through those options in order.
Frequently Asked Questions
A document is valid if it meets your state’s requirements for that document type — who has to sign it, whether witnesses or a notary are required, and whether it has to be recorded. A well-built template will prompt you for those steps, but completing them is your responsibility, and the requirements differ by state and by document.
No. LawDepot is an online document provider. It does not practise law, does not represent you, and using it does not create an attorney–client relationship. Neither does reading this site.
Yes, on the links marked as affiliate links. If you create a document after clicking one, we may receive a commission. You pay the same price you would pay going to the provider directly, and no commission has any influence on the cost figures published on this site. The full terms are on our affiliate disclosure page.
Because no honest document answers those questions. Those matters are decided in court, on deadlines, against an opposing party — and there is nothing a template can do about any of that. We would rather list nothing than list something irrelevant.