Six positions
What it is, and what it is not.
Most things sold under this name are either a folder of pages with no position on anything, or a subscription that needs your data to exist. This book takes six positions, and they are printed inside it as well as here.
1. It is not legal advice.
It does not make a will, a trust, a power of attorney or an advance directive, and it does not tell you what yours should say. It records where they are and who holds them, and for the rest it points you to a lawyer licensed in your state.
2. We never see what you write.
Nothing typed into the book leaves your computer. There is no account, no cloud, no app, and nothing of yours on our servers to be breached. The only thing we hold is the email address you bought with.
3. It is written for the person who opens it.
Every section starts with what they would need first, not with what is easiest for you to fill in. The First Week at the front is addressed to them by name, if you choose to write one in.
4. It is American.
Letter paper, dollars, and the accounts American households actually have. Social Security, 401(k)s and IRAs, Medicare, the county recorder, the DMV.
5. You buy it once.
No subscription, no login, no renewal, and nothing in it that expires. The files are yours, on your own machine, for as long as you keep them.
6. It says what it does not do.
Wherever the book reaches the edge of what a book can do, it says so and names who to ask. A page that pretends to be a lawyer is worse than a blank one.
If what you need is a will
Then you need a lawyer licensed in your state, or a will service that is. We do not recommend one, we are not one, and nothing in the book or on this site should be read as a substitute for one. The book will tell your family where the will is. It cannot write it.
Why we wrote it this way
Because the person who opens this book will be having one of the worst weeks of their life, and the last thing they need is a page that oversold itself. Everything the book says it does, it does. Where it stops, it says so, and names who to ask. That is the whole editorial policy, and it is why the book is shorter in places than the ones that promise everything.
If you think a page overstates something, write to hello@householdbook.com. We would rather hear it from you than from the person who opened it. The about page says who we are.