LegalZoom Compatibility Guide
This guide describes how the INHERIT open estate data standard maps to LegalZoom's data model, based on publicly available documentation. All field mappings and API details are proposed and have not been validated against a live LegalZoom instance.
LegalZoom is a trademark of LegalZoom.com, Inc.. This guide is not endorsed by, affiliated with, or sponsored by LegalZoom. Get in touch to collaborate on an official integration.
Conceptual mapping between LegalZoom's consumer estate planning questionnaire and INHERIT schemas, with Embedded Services Flow integration pathway.
Overview#
LegalZoom ↗ is the largest consumer legal services platform in the United States, serving millions of customers since its founding in 2001. The company went public on the Nasdaq in 2021 and has facilitated the creation of an estimated four million or more last wills and testaments, making it one of the highest-volume estate document producers in the world.
LegalZoom’s estate planning product line includes:
- Last Will and Testament — a guided questionnaire that produces a state-specific will as a downloadable PDF
- Living Trust — a revocable living trust package including pour-over will, certificate of trust, and transfer documents
- Power of Attorney — both financial and healthcare powers of attorney
- Healthcare Directive (Living Will) — advance directive for medical treatment preferences
- Legal Plans — a subscription service (from ~$14.99/month) providing ongoing access to an attorney network for document review, updates, and consultations
LegalZoom’s model is fundamentally questionnaire-driven: the consumer answers a structured series of questions about their personal details, family, assets, wishes, and appointed roles. The platform then generates legally compliant documents as PDF output. There is no persistent structured data API for estate planning — the consumer’s answers exist within LegalZoom’s internal systems but are not exposed programmatically to third parties.
This is a partial compatibility guide. Based on publicly available information as of April 2026, LegalZoom does not currently offer a public API for estate planning data. This guide documents the conceptual alignment between LegalZoom’s data capture and INHERIT’s schemas, and describes how compatibility could work using patterns LegalZoom has already deployed in other product lines.
Integration Opportunity#
The Problem#
LegalZoom serves a mass-market audience — individuals and families who may not have an existing relationship with a solicitor or financial adviser. Many of these consumers will later need to:
- Share their estate plan with a professional adviser — a financial planner, tax adviser, or solicitor who needs structured data, not a PDF to re-key manually
- Update their plan on a different platform — life changes may lead the consumer to a different service provider, but their data is locked inside LegalZoom
- Coordinate with executors and trustees — appointed individuals need access to plan details
- Submit data to government registries — as jurisdictions move towards digital probate and estate registration
The Opportunity#
INHERIT provides the missing interchange layer. A LegalZoom + INHERIT integration would enable data portability for consumers, pre-fill from advisory platforms, downstream consumption by professionals, and regulatory readiness.
Conceptual Field Mapping#
Personal Information -> person.json#
| LegalZoom Questionnaire Field | INHERIT Schema | INHERIT Field | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full legal name | person.json |
givenName, additionalName, familyName |
Split into structured components |
| Date of birth | person.json |
dateOfBirth |
ISO 8601 date format |
| State of residence | person.json / estate.json |
contact.address.region / domicile |
US state — maps to ISO 3166-2 code |
| Address | person.json |
contact.address |
Full postal address mapped to common/address.json |
| Gender | person.json |
gender |
Maps to INHERIT enum |
| Marital status | person.json / relationship.json |
Determines relationship creation | See Spouse/Partner section below |
Spouse / Partner -> person.json + relationship.json#
| LegalZoom Questionnaire Field | INHERIT Schema | INHERIT Field | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spouse/partner full name | person.json |
givenName, additionalName, familyName |
Creates a second person record |
| Relationship type | relationship.json |
relationshipType |
Map: Married -> spouse; Domestic partner -> partner; Civil union -> civil_partner |
| Date of marriage/union | relationship.json |
startDate |
ISO 8601 date |
| Whether spouse is a US citizen | person.json |
taxResidency |
Affects marital deduction for federal estate tax |
| Property regime | estate.json |
defaultPropertyRegime |
Inferred from state of residence |
Children and Dependants -> person.json + kinship.json + guardian.json#
| LegalZoom Questionnaire Field | INHERIT Schema | INHERIT Field | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Child’s full name | person.json |
givenName, additionalName, familyName |
One person record per child |
| Date of birth | person.json |
dateOfBirth |
Used to determine minor status |
| Relationship to testator | kinship.json |
kinshipType |
Map: Biological child -> parent_child_biological; Adopted child -> parent_child_adopted; Stepchild -> parent_child_step |
| Named guardian for minors | guardian.json |
guardianPersonId, scope |
Creates a guardian record |
| Alternate guardian | guardian.json |
Second guardian record with priority: 2 |
Backup guardian |
Executor and Trustee Selection -> executor.json, trust.json#
| LegalZoom Questionnaire Field | INHERIT Schema | INHERIT Field | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary executor name | executor.json |
personId, priority: 1 |
Creates an executor record referencing a person |
| Alternate executor name | executor.json |
personId, priority: 2 |
Second executor record |
| Primary trustee (Living Trust) | trust.json |
trustees[].personId, role: "trustee" |
The settlor is typically the initial trustee |
| Successor trustee | trust.json |
trustees[] with ordering |
Takes over when the initial trustee can no longer serve |
Specific Bequests -> bequest.json#
| LegalZoom Questionnaire Field | INHERIT Schema | INHERIT Field | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Specific gift description | bequest.json |
description |
Free-text description |
| Specific gift recipient | bequest.json |
beneficiaryPersonId or beneficiaryOrganisationId |
Reference to the recipient |
| Gift type | bequest.json |
bequestType |
Map: specific item -> specific; cash amount -> pecuniary; percentage of estate -> residuary |
| Cash amount (pecuniary legacy) | bequest.json |
amount |
In minor units (cents for USD) |
| Residuary estate split | bequest.json |
percentage |
Percentage of residuary estate |
| Per stirpes / per capita | bequest.json |
distributionMethod |
How the share passes if the beneficiary predeceases |
Pet Care -> pet.json#
| LegalZoom Questionnaire Field | INHERIT Schema | INHERIT Field | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pet name | pet.json |
name |
Direct mapping |
| Pet type / species | pet.json |
species |
Map to INHERIT enum |
| Named caretaker | pet.json |
caretakerPersonId |
Reference to the appointed person |
| Care instructions | pet.json |
careInstructions |
Free-text wishes |
Healthcare Wishes -> wish.json#
| LegalZoom Questionnaire Field | INHERIT Schema | INHERIT Field | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Life-sustaining treatment preference | wish.json |
wishType: "healthcare", description |
Whether to continue, withdraw, or withhold life support |
| Organ donation preference | wish.json |
wishType: "organ_donation", description |
Whether and what to donate |
| Burial / cremation preference | wish.json |
wishType: "funeral", description |
Disposition of remains |
| Healthcare agent (POA) | person.json |
roles: ["attorney"] |
The person appointed under the healthcare power of attorney |
Document Output -> document.json#
| LegalZoom Document | INHERIT document.json Field |
Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Last Will and Testament | type: "will" |
The primary will document |
| Living Trust Agreement | type: "trust_deed" |
The trust instrument |
| Pour-Over Will | type: "will", subtype: "pour_over" |
Companion will for the trust |
| Financial Power of Attorney | type: "power_of_attorney", subtype: "financial" |
Durable financial POA |
| Healthcare Power of Attorney | type: "power_of_attorney", subtype: "healthcare" |
Healthcare proxy / medical POA |
| Healthcare Directive (Living Will) | type: "advance_directive" |
Advance directive for medical treatment |
Embedded Services Flow#
The Existing Pattern#
LegalZoom currently offers an Embedded Legal Services Flow for business formation, allowing partners to embed LegalZoom’s process within their own user interface with data pre-fill and completion callbacks.
Applying the Pattern to Estate Planning#
The same architectural approach could be extended to estate planning with INHERIT as the data interchange format:
Inbound: Partner -> LegalZoom (Pre-fill)#
A financial adviser or estate planning platform holds structured estate data. When the client decides to create documents through LegalZoom, the partner exports the data as an INHERIT document and passes it as the pre-fill payload. LegalZoom maps INHERIT fields to its internal questionnaire model, and the consumer reviews and confirms the pre-filled data.
Outbound: LegalZoom -> Partner (Export)#
After document generation, LegalZoom exports the finalised estate data back to the partner as an INHERIT document, creating a round-trip data flow.
If you work with LegalZoom or in consumer estate planning and would like to discuss INHERIT compatibility, please get in touch .