How much an estate plan costs depends on what you need: a basic attorney-drafted package with a simple will and powers of attorney runs $300 to $1,500, a comprehensive plan built around a revocable living trust typically costs $1,500 to $4,000, and complex estates involving businesses, blended families, or tax planning can push fees to $5,000 to $15,000 or more. Online DIY platforms start much lower, from about $50 for a basic will to $400 to $1,000 for a trust-based plan. Where you land depends on three things: what documents you actually need, who drafts them, and what happens after you sign.
The Three Price Tiers
Most quotes you’ll see fall into one of three brackets, and the main driver between them is whether a trust is involved.
A basic plan usually means a simple will, a financial power of attorney, a healthcare power of attorney, and an advance directive. That bundle typically runs $300 to $1,500 through an attorney charging a flat fee. It works for younger adults with straightforward finances, renters, or people whose biggest assets are retirement accounts with named beneficiaries that pass outside a will anyway.
A comprehensive plan adds a revocable living trust, a pour-over will, and sometimes a HIPAA authorization or certificate of trust. Attorney-prepared trust-based plans generally cost $1,500 to $4,000. The trust itself is the main cost driver because the attorney has to design distribution provisions, name successor trustees, and often coordinate retitling assets into the trust’s name.
For high-net-worth individuals, business owners, families with multiple properties, special needs beneficiaries, or anyone with real tax planning goals, expect $5,000 to $15,000 or more. Plans at this level often involve irrevocable trusts, generation-skipping provisions, or charitable giving structures that demand significantly more attorney time.
DIY Online Platforms vs. Hiring an Attorney
Online estate planning platforms are the cheapest entry point. Starting prices for online wills range from about $50 to $200, with trust-based plans from $400 to $1,000. Services like Trust & Will and LegalZoom use questionnaire-driven document builders that produce state-specific forms. They can work for genuinely simple situations: a single person with a bank account, a car, and a 401(k) who just needs a will and basic powers of attorney.
The trouble is that most people’s situations are less simple than they think. DIY platforms can’t flag that your beneficiary designations conflict with your will, that your state has unusual trust formality requirements, or that a new marriage created inheritance rights you didn’t plan for. The documents might be legally valid but poorly coordinated, and that’s where estate plans fail in practice.
Attorneys who handle estate planning typically charge in one of two ways. Flat fees are the norm for standard packages, giving you a predictable total before any work begins. Hourly billing, usually $150 to $400 per hour depending on experience and market, is more common for complex estates where scope is hard to predict. Some attorneys offer a free initial consultation; others charge $300 to $500 for the first meeting and credit it toward the total if you hire them.
What Each Document Costs Inside the Package
Package pricing makes more sense when you see what’s in it. Most attorneys bundle these documents into a single flat fee rather than pricing each separately, so the package total is almost always less than the sum of individual document prices.
- A last will and testament, which directs who gets your assets, names an executor, and appoints a guardian for minor children, typically costs $300 to $1,000 on its own through an attorney.
- A revocable living trust, which lets assets transfer to beneficiaries without probate and keeps the details private, generally runs $1,500 to $4,000, with complex arrangements pushing above $5,000 to $7,000.
- A financial power of attorney, naming someone to handle bank accounts, bills, and investments if you become incapacitated, typically costs $200 to $500.
- A healthcare power of attorney and advance directive, together covering medical decision-making and end-of-life preferences, usually cost $200 to $500 bundled.
Costs After You Sign
The drafting fee is only the first bill. If your plan includes a revocable living trust, that trust needs to be funded, meaning your assets have to be retitled in the trust’s name. Skipping this step is one of the most common estate planning mistakes, because an unfunded trust does nothing to avoid probate.
Transferring a house into a trust typically costs $1,000 to $3,000, covering attorney fees for the new deed, county recording fees, and notary fees. Estates with multiple properties can run $5,000 to $8,000 for the transfer work alone. Bank and investment accounts are simpler, usually involving paperwork with the financial institution at little or no cost. Some attorneys include trust funding in their flat fee; others charge separately. Ask before signing an engagement letter.
If you name a corporate or professional trustee instead of a family member, expect ongoing management fees. These typically run 0.50% to 0.75% of assets under management annually, with minimum annual fees of $3,500 or more. Many professional trustees also charge a one-time onboarding fee, sometimes $10,000 or higher, and a separate settlement fee at death calculated as a percentage of the estate. Special needs trusts command higher minimums because of the additional compliance work.
What It Costs to Keep the Plan Current
An estate plan isn’t something you sign once and forget. Attorneys generally recommend a full review every three to five years even if nothing major has changed, and an immediate review after marriage, divorce, the birth or adoption of a child, buying or selling a home or business, a significant change in net worth, the death of someone named in your plan, or a move to a different state. State laws vary considerably, and documents drafted for one state may not work properly in another.
Minor changes to a will can be made through a codicil, typically costing $100 to $400. Trust amendments tend to cost more because of the added complexity, and significant life changes often warrant redoing the plan rather than patching it. Many attorneys offer returning clients a discounted rate for updates, and some firms include a certain number of minor amendments in the initial flat fee. The cheapest plan to draft isn’t always the cheapest plan to maintain, so ask about this upfront.
What Skipping a Plan Actually Costs
The most expensive estate plan is the one you never make. When someone dies without a will, the estate goes through intestate succession, meaning a state formula dictates who inherits. That formula ignores your preferences entirely. An unmarried partner gets nothing. A stepchild you raised since infancy gets nothing. A sibling you haven’t spoken to in decades might inherit alongside your spouse.
Dying without a plan almost always means full probate. Costs vary enormously by state, but generally consume 3% to 7% of the estate’s total value once you add court filing fees, attorney fees, and executor compensation. Some states set statutory percentage-based attorney fees for probate that produce surprisingly large bills. On a $500,000 estate, probate can easily cost $15,000 to $35,000 and take a year or longer to resolve. Compared with the $1,500 to $4,000 a comprehensive trust-based plan costs, the math is hard to argue with.
There’s a time cost too. Probate can freeze assets for months while your family waits for court approval to access bank accounts or sell property. If you have minor children and haven’t named a guardian, a court appoints one, and it may not be the person you’d have chosen.
When Estate Taxes Enter the Picture
For most families, federal estate tax isn’t driving planning costs. The 2026 federal estate tax exemption is $15,000,000 per individual, following legislation signed in July 2025 that increased the threshold from its prior level. The annual gift tax exclusion is $19,000 per recipient for 2026.1Internal Revenue Service. What’s New – Estate and Gift Tax Married couples can effectively double both figures.
If your estate is well below $15 million, your plan should focus on probate avoidance, incapacity planning, and getting assets to the right people efficiently. A $2,000 to $4,000 trust-based plan handles all of that for most families.
If your estate approaches or exceeds the exemption, you need an attorney experienced in estate tax planning. Strategies like irrevocable life insurance trusts, grantor retained annuity trusts, or charitable lead trusts can reduce or eliminate estate tax exposure, but they add real cost. Expect to pay $5,000 to $15,000 or more at this level. The federal estate tax rate on amounts above the exemption is 40%.1Internal Revenue Service. What’s New – Estate and Gift Tax
Getting the Most From Your Budget
Before your first meeting with an attorney, gather a list of your assets, debts, insurance policies, and retirement account beneficiary designations. Attorneys bill for their time, and the less time they spend extracting basic information from you, the more time they spend on actual planning. Bring a rough idea of who you want to inherit what, who you’d want making decisions if you were incapacitated, and who you’d name as guardian for any minor children.
Get flat-fee quotes from at least two or three attorneys. Prices vary more than most people expect, even within the same city. Make sure each quote covers the same scope so you’re comparing like with like, and ask specifically whether trust funding, notarization, and a follow-up review are included or billed separately.
Don’t choose on price alone. A poorly drafted trust or a will with ambiguous language can cost your family far more in litigation than you saved on fees. Look for someone who focuses on estate planning rather than a general practitioner who handles it occasionally.