Your last will and testament is a formal document that specifies your wishes when you pass away. If you do not have a will, state law will determine how your children, pets and belongings are placed among your living family.

Having a will is important, and can be a great way to support the people and causes you love, like Catholic Charities of New York. It ensures that your wishes are known, saving your loved ones the stress and cost of intestate probate proceedings, and letting you (not the government) decide where your property goes.

FreeWill is an online estate planning tool that allows you to create or update a legally binding will. Please visit CatholicCharitiesNY.org/FreeWill  to learn more about our partnership and how the free online bequest tool can help you.

FreeWill advises that a completed will is not legally binding until it has been signed and executed in accordance with the laws of your state of residence. FreeWill will give you detailed instructions on how to do so, to ensure that your will carries out your wishes. FreeWill securely keeps your information in your profile so that you can quickly and easily update your will whenever necessary.

The standard will document you create on the FreeWill website incorporates typical estate planning needs. If you have a complicated estate with multiple properties and complex assets, or would like to discuss alternative planned giving vehicles, we recommend consulting an attorney and/or financial advisor.

This offer is free to you, compliments of Catholic Charities of New York.

No, Catholic Charities of New York is not preparing your will. While Catholic Charities of New York covers the cost of providing this service to our supporters, FreeWill is an independent third-party platform, completely separate from Catholic Charities of New York. Its services are provided without review from Catholic Charities of New York, and Catholic Charities of New York is not liable for its use. FreeWill is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. Your use of the platform is subject to FreeWill’s Terms of Service, which we encourage you to review. Please visit CatholicCharitiesNY.org/FreeWill to learn more.

A will from FreeWill is valid in all 50 states and the District of Columbia if it has been signed and executed in accordance with the laws of your state of residence. If you live outside of the U.S., you may use FreeWill process to outline your wishes in preparation for speaking with an attorney and/or financial advisor.

Yes, you can. FreeWill makes it easy to leave gifts to all of your favorite organizations, including Catholic Charities of New York. FreeWill will prompt you to leave a percentage of your estate to your favorite charity, like Catholic Charities of New York, but you are not required to leave a gift in order to create a will through FreeWill.

Please know including a gift to Catholic Charities of New York in your will is a powerful way to support our mission. It’s not required, but optional and deeply appreciated.

Yes, you can use FreeWill to create a new will. Please be sure to have it executed per the laws in your state. We highly recommend consulting an attorney and/or financial advisor.

Yes, you can, FreeWill offers the opportunity to leave a gift without altering your existing will through a codicil. Please visit CatholicCharitiesNY.org/FreeWill to learn more.

Yes, you can. Please visit CatholicCharitiesNY.org/FreeWill to learn more.

Absolutely, you can change it. It is easy to make an account if you want to come back to your will at any time, edit it, and generate a new one. Just make sure to print out your updated will and sign it in front of two witnesses.

Catholic Charities of New York does not share your personal information with FreeWill. FreeWill only receives the information that you provide to them, when you activate your FreeWill account. FreeWill’s Terms of Service prohibits the sale or rental of user names or other personal information.

When creating your account with FreeWill, you will be asked if you would like to share your contact information with any charities for which you leave a gift. If you choose to share your contact information, the charity will receive your contact information and note about your planned gift, as agreed upon. No other data will be shared with the charity.

If you do not wish to share any information at all, you can choose to remain anonymous. If you choose to remain anonymous, the charity will not receive any identifying information.

No, you are not required to leave a gift to Catholic Charities of New York or any other organization in order to create a will. Any bequest provision you include is revocable, and your will can be changed at any time for any reason. Please simply log back into your account to update your will, and follow the instructions for signatures and notarizations.

Please know including a gift to Catholic Charities of New York in your will is a powerful way to support our mission. It’s not required but optional and deeply appreciated.

So many Catholic Charities of New York supporters choose to provide a future gift that we are able to offer FreeWill for free to our dedicated supporters.

If you have a particularly large or complicated estate, you may want to have your will drafted by an attorney and/or financial advisor instead. Please know we can still help! At the end of your will-making process, we’ll also provide a set of documented wishes to bring to an attorney that may speed up the process. Please visit CatholicCharitiesNY.org/FreeWill to learn more.

Be sure to leave it in a safe, secure place, and make sure the person you’ve chosen as your executor knows exactly where it is.

Have you included a gift in your will or trust to Catholic Charities of New York? It can often be difficult to plan and make sure that your gifts are used in line with your wishes if they are left unknown. But more importantly, we want to say thank you for considering our work as a part of your legacy.

We know that life circumstances can change and you may need to alter or reconsider your gift in the future. That’s all right — reporting your gift today does not mean you are obligated, now nor in the future.

Please fill out the form so we can thank you now for your lasting commitment and ensure our records are up to date.

We have a free resource here for your reference, please check out our available glossary of financial and estate planning terms available on our website.

If you have any more questions about FreeWill, please contact:

Emily Chau
Director of Planned Giving
Emily.Chau@CatholicCharitiesNY.org
646-794-2018