A Legal Templates alternative that fills in the blanks for you
A blank template hands you the layout and leaves the law to you. The blanks are the work: the deadline, the section number, the penalty. Here's the $19 version that fills them from your answers — and where a template library still wins.
One-time payment · No account required · No subscription, ever
The short answer
LetterRight is a pay-once alternative to fill-in-the-blank legal template sites. A person answers questions about their dispute, and the draft comes back with the deadline computed from 306 hand-curated state rule sets and the governing statute cited by section number. One letter costs $19, paid once, with no account.
A template is a shape. A letter is a shape with the right facts in it. Everything below is about who does the second part.
Four lines, then the detail
You already know your statute? Use a blank template. It's the cheapest thing going and you don't need us.
You don't? Then the blanks are the job. $19 buys your state's deadline, computed from your move-out date, with the section number printed in the letter.
You need thirty documents this year? Do the division. A library on a monthly rate beats $19 a document long before you reach thirty.
You want nothing running afterwards? That's why this exists. What we won't do is listed in the no-subscription promise.
The four blanks that decide the letter
Open any deposit demand template and you'll find the same gaps. Three are typing. One is research, and it decides whether the letter works.
The deadline
What the template says: "within ____ days."
Return windows run from 14 to 60 days by state. Get it wrong and you've either demanded money early or admitted you waited. Neither reads well.
The section number
What the template says: "under applicable state law."
That phrase does no work. A landlord who reads "Minn. Stat. § 504B.178" knows you looked it up. One who reads "applicable state law" knows you didn't.
The consequence
What the template says: usually nothing at all.
Most states attach a penalty to a wrongfully withheld deposit. Naming it, with its citation, moves a letter up the pile.
The ask
What the template says: "please remit at your earliest convenience."
Set a date and a figure. A vague closing invites a vague reply, and that's a fortnight gone. More in how to write a demand letter.
One template, two correct letters
Two tenants, same template, same move-out date of 12 June 2026. One rented in Minneapolis, one in Richmond. Their correct letters share a layout and nothing else.
| The blank | Minneapolis tenant | Richmond tenant |
|---|---|---|
| Days to return the deposit | 21 | 45 |
| Statute the letter cites | Minn. Stat. § 504B.178 | Va. Code § 55.1-1226 |
| Date the demand names | 3 July 2026 | 27 July 2026 |
| Statutory cap on the deposit | None | Two months' rent |
A Virginia tenant copying the Minnesota deadline is demanding money three weeks before the landlord is late. That's the failure mode of a blank template, in one row.
A Minnesota landlord has 21 days after the tenancy ends and the tenant gives a forwarding address to return the deposit or send a written statement of what was withheld and why (Minn. Stat. § 504B.178).
The same section provides punitive damages equal to the amount wrongfully withheld, on top of the deposit. That sentence beats a paragraph of frustration.
Every deadline we hold is listed with its citation in the state-by-state deposit deadline guide. Fill the blanks from that page yourself if you'd rather — it's free, and it's the data the letters are built from.
Side by side
The middle column describes the standard pattern across free-template sites: a builder anyone can fill in, then a plan to download what they built. It describes the category, not anyone's current terms.
| On one letter | Blank-template sites (the usual pattern) | LetterRight |
|---|---|---|
| Who supplies the deadline | You do | The rules dataset does |
| Statute in the finished document | "Applicable state law" | The section number, every time |
| Research before you start typing | However long it takes | None |
| Cost to download one document | Free to build, then a plan | $19, once |
| Changing an answer afterwards | Edit the blanks yourself | Free rewrites, no limit, before payment |
| Document types offered | Hundreds | Six |
| Running after you download | A renewing plan | Nothing |
Go and check their price yourself. We won't print a figure next to Legal Templates' name. Pricing and plan terms in this category change, we'd get it wrong, and a comparison built on a stale number is worth nothing to you. Open their own pricing page, find what it costs to download a finished document, and hold it against $19 once. We'd rather lose the sale than misquote a competitor.
How we compared them
Not on feature counts. On one job: one person, one dispute, one letter that has to be posted by Friday.
- Blanks you have to research. Typing your address isn't work. Finding your state's return window is.
- Whether a section number reaches the page. We read the finished document, not the marketing around it.
- Total leaving your account to hold the file. Headline price and download price are often different numbers.
- What's still running a month later. Nothing, or a renewal.
What we skipped on purpose: quoting anyone's price, plan name, trial length or document count. Those move. Ours is in the hero, and it's the only figure we'll put a name to.
When Legal Templates is the better buy
This is the part most comparison pages skip. A template library isn't a worse product. It's a different one, and it's the right buy if any of these describe you.
- You need a library, not a letter. A contractor agreement in March, a terms sheet in May, a services contract in July. Divide a year of plan fees by the documents you'll pull. Under $19 each and the library has beaten us.
- You need documents we don't make. Wills, NDAs, leases, bills of sale, incorporation paperwork. Six letter types, and none of those are on the list.
- You already know the law. A paralegal, a property manager, anyone filling the blanks from memory. You'd be paying us for the one thing you don't need.
- You want everything in one login. We email you files and get out of the way. A folder holding every document you've made is a real feature. We don't have it.
For repeat landlord notices we do sell a $9/month Landlord Pack — the only account we require and the only recurring charge on the site. One letter? Ignore it.
Three questions that decide it
Can you name your state's deadline right now?
Without looking. If you can, a template gets you the same letter for nothing. If you can't, that's the blank you're paying $19 to fill — and it's the one the landlord reads first.
Is this one document, or the first of ten?
One: pay once. Ten of different types across a year: buy the library. The break-even is a division you can do in your head.
Is a letter the right move at all?
If you've been served, or the sum is large, see a lawyer. We're a document service. We don't read your facts and we won't pretend a letter fixes a case.
How you send it matters too. Certified mail with return receipt runs about $6 and turns "I sent it" into something you can hand a judge. If nothing comes back, small claims court is the step after.
What $19 gets you
Not a form with gaps. A finished letter carrying your dates, your figures and your state's rule, set in a serif that reads as correspondence.
Re: Return of security deposit — 1140 Lyndale Ave S, Apt 6
I vacated the above unit on 12 June 2026 and gave you a forwarding address the same day. My deposit of $1,850 has not been returned and I have had no written statement of deductions.
Under Minn. Stat. § 504B.178, you had 21 days from that date to return the deposit or send that statement. The deadline passed on 3 July 2026.
I ask that you return $1,850 within 14 days of the date of this letter.
About 60% of your draft is readable before you pay, including the statute line and the computed date. Change an answer and we redraft it, free.
One-time payment · No account required · No subscription, ever
Common questions
What's the difference between a legal template and what LetterRight makes?
A template gives you the layout and leaves the legal facts as blanks. We ask questions instead, then write the letter with the deadline computed and the statute cited by section.
Same envelope at the end. The difference is who did the research.
Aren't legal templates free?
Building one usually is. Downloading the finished file is where the money appears, and in this category that's typically a plan, not a one-off charge.
Check the download terms first. Genuinely free templates exist, and they're fine if you know your statute.
How do you know the rule for my state?
From 306 hand-curated state rule sets — six letter types across 51 jurisdictions, checked by hand rather than pulled from a model's memory.
Updated 1 August 2026. Statutes change, so confirm the current text.
Can I edit the letter after I buy it?
Yes. You get an editable Word file alongside the print-ready PDF.
Before you pay, editing is free and unlimited — change an answer and we redraft the whole thing.
Do I need an account to download my letter?
No. You give an email address so we can send the download link. No password, no profile, no verification email to hunt for.
The links are signed and open on any device. The one exception is the $9/month Landlord Pack, which remembers your properties.
When is LetterRight the wrong choice?
When you need a document type we don't have, when you need many documents a month, or when you want someone to read your situation and advise you.
Evictions are deliberately out of scope. Facing one, on either side? Get a lawyer, not a letter.
What exactly arrives for $19?
A print-ready PDF, an editable Word file, and a next-steps sheet covering how to send it and the date to diary if there's no reply.
Nothing renews. No plan sits behind the purchase.
Answer the questions. We'll fill the blanks.
Your state's deadline and its section number go in automatically. Read most of the draft, then pay $19 once if it's right. Still comparing? There's the Rocket Lawyer comparison and the LawDepot comparison.
One-time payment · No account required · No subscription, ever
Self-help document service. Not a law firm, and not legal advice. We do not review your letter or represent you. Statutes and deadlines change — confirm the current text of any section cited here before relying on it.