The Challenge
Traditional estate planning is often perceived as complex, expensive, and time-consuming, typically requiring multiple attorney meetings and extensive paperwork. For people of faith, the process lacked alignment with unique religious values, such as Legacy funeral preferences and trust in faith-respecting platforms. Also, giving was significantly underutilized, with only 7% of traditional wills including charitable contributions.
Solution Implemented
Valere developed a user-friendly, legally sound digital will creation platform featuring a 15-minute, step-by-step guided experience. The solution integrates specific faith-based guidance and built-in charitable giving prompts to encourage legacy donations. Designed for industry-leading navigability, the platform is highly scalable, leading to the launch of a non-denominational version, My Legacy Will.
About the Company
Mission
My Legacy Will provides a seamless digital solution for estate planning specifically designed for users . By simplifying the will-writing process, they enable users to protect their families while ensuring their final wishes align with their values. The company serves both individual users and nearly 200 charity partners, driving long-term financial support for faith-based organizations through optimized their giving.
Key Leadership
Thomas Thimons (Co-Founder) and Dan Thimons (Co-Founder) lead My Legacy Will with a vision to modernize a traditionally cumbersome legal process. They sought a partner like Valere to move beyond rudimentary processes that were not working and to create an industry-leading user interface. Their focus on thoughtfulness and expertise drove the platform to be recognized by peers as the easiest will form to navigate in the market.
The Challenge: Designing a Faith-Aligned Digital Platform to solve complex and expensive estate planning bottlenecks
When My Legacy Will approached Valere, the traditional estate planning landscape was a major barrier for their community. The existing “rudimentary processes” were insufficient for their growth and failed to provide the ease of use required for a digital-first audience.
Technical Constraints
Inefficient Rudimentary Processes
Prior to the partnership, the client relied on basic systems that were not working effectively to capture and convert users. There was a clear need for a scalable, automated workflow that could move a user from registration to a completed legal document without manual intervention.
Market/Business Impact
The Legacy Giving Gap
While the national average for including charitable donations in wills is only 7%, the client’s mission depended on significantly increasing this rate to support their 200 charity partners. The complexity of traditional planning prevented users from considering their gifts, costing non-profits millions in potential funding.
Compliance/Security
Religious and Legal Alignment
The platform needed to navigate the intersection of legally sound document generation and unique religious considerations, such as thei funeral preferences and faith-based values. Building user trust in a secure, digital environment was paramount for this demographic.
Why My Legacy Will Partnered with Valere for Digital Experience Design
Thomas Thimons noted that the company would not be where it is today without Valere’s work, citing several key differentiators during their partnership:
Responsiveness and Openness: Valere’s team was consistently responsive and open to new ideas, helping the client navigate every challenge from discovery to implementation.
Technical Expertise in UX/UI: Peers in the industry recognized the resulting product as the most navigable will creation tool in the market.
Strategic Transformation: Valere acted as a true partner, transforming “rudimentary processes” into a sophisticated digital platform that enabled market expansion.
“Honestly, I don’t think we would be at the point we are today without the work of Valere. From the initial exploratory phases to implementation, the process was phenomenal.”
The Solution: Engineering a 15-Minute Will Creation Platform with Guided Workflows to increase charitable giving rates
Valere developed a user-friendly, legally sound, and faith-aligned platform that simplifies a complex legal process into a manageable 15-minute task.
Infrastructure & Architecture
The platform was built for Scalability & Market Expansion, allowing the client to successfully launch a non-denominational version, My Legacy Will.
- Workflow Automation: Developed a secure, guided process that simplifies data entry and legal document generation.
- Charitable Giving Integration: Built-in prompts were strategically placed to encourage users to include charitable gifts during the drafting process.
Specialized Workflow: Faith-Based UX Design
The team implemented a unique Faith-Based Guidance system:
- Religious Alignment: Integrated prompts for their funeral preferences and value-based distribution.
- Intuitive Navigation: A clean interface designed specifically to reduce the friction typically associated with legal paperwork.
Phased Implementation
The project followed a phenomenal implementation path:
- Exploratory Phase: Initial discovery to identify rudimentary process failures.
- UX/UI Design & Research: Focused on creating the “easiest to navigate” form in the industry.
- Build & Prototyping: Developing the 15-minute will creation logic.
- Testing & Launch: Ensuring legal soundness and faith alignment.
The Results
The partnership fundamentally transformed the client’s business, moving them from rudimentary tools to industry leadership and significant financial impact for their partners.
Key Outcomes
Significant Charitable Giving Impact:
- Raised $275 million in charitable gifts since launch.
- Increased their giving rates from the 7% national average to 42% among users.
- Onboarded nearly 200 charity partners.
User Engagement & Performance:
- 90% of users complete their wills on the same day they begin.
- Will creation simplified to just 15 minutes.
Market Growth:
- Successfully expanded into the non-denominational market with My Legacy Will.
- Achieved market leadership, with competitors now replicating the platform’s innovations.
The Client’s Perspective
"We’ve been told by industry peers that our online will form is the easiest to navigate in the market. It’s a testament to the thoughtfulness and expertise of Valere Labs."
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