Hiring an attorney to draw up a will typically costs between $300 and $1,000 for a simple estate, and $1,200 to $2,000 or more once your family or assets get complicated. What you actually pay depends on how the attorney bills, where you live, what documents come bundled with the will, and how much complexity you bring to the drafting table.
What a Basic Will Costs
For a straightforward estate, most estate planning attorneys charge a flat fee in the $300 to $1,000 range. “Basic” means a relatively uncomplicated family, a handful of standard assets like a home and retirement accounts, and no need for specialized trusts or tax strategies. Once your circumstances get more involved, that flat fee can climb to $1,200 to $2,000 or higher.
Many attorneys don’t price the will alone. Instead, they offer a package that includes the will, a durable power of attorney, a health care power of attorney, and a living will. Those bundles generally run $2,000 to $5,000 depending on the attorney and the complexity of your estate. If your plan needs a revocable living trust in addition to or instead of a will, expect $1,500 to $4,000 or more for the trust portion by itself. The higher price reflects extra drafting time and the work of retitling assets into the trust.
Flat Fee or Hourly Rate
Most will work is billed as a flat fee because the scope is predictable. You agree on a number upfront, and it covers drafting, review meetings, and execution. That cost certainty is why most people prefer it for simple estates.
Hourly billing shows up when the estate is complex enough that the attorney can’t reliably estimate the time involved. Hourly rates for estate planning attorneys generally run $150 to $400, depending on experience and geography. Attorneys who bill hourly usually track time in tenths of an hour, meaning six-minute increments. A five-minute call gets rounded up and billed as a tenth of an hour, so if you’re on an hourly arrangement, batch your questions instead of calling with each one separately.
Some attorneys use a hybrid: a flat fee for the core documents plus hourly billing for anything outside that scope. Clarify which model applies before work starts.
What Pushes the Price Up
The single biggest driver of your final bill is complexity, both in your assets and your family.
Asset Complexity
A will covering a home, a couple of bank accounts, and a retirement plan is about as simple as it gets. Prices rise once you add business ownership, rental properties, investment portfolios across multiple accounts, or real estate in more than one state. Out-of-state property can trigger probate in each state, and the will may need to address different transfer rules in each jurisdiction. Business succession planning alone can add significant hours.
Family Structure
A first marriage with biological children is the easiest scenario to draft for. Blended families with stepchildren, children from prior marriages, or domestic partners require more precise language to make sure each person receives what you intend. Disinheriting a spouse or child adds another layer, because state laws protect certain family members from being cut out and the attorney has to draft around those protections. Sloppy drafting in these situations is one of the most common reasons wills get challenged after death.
Trusts Written Into the Will
Minor children usually mean the will needs to name a guardian and set up a testamentary trust to manage the inheritance until the children are old enough to handle it. That trust-within-a-will adds drafting time and cost. Planning for a beneficiary with a disability is more involved still, because a special needs trust has to be structured to provide for that person without disqualifying them from Supplemental Security Income or Medicaid.1Justia. Special Needs Trusts and Their Legal Impact on SSI Benefits Getting that balance wrong can be devastating for the beneficiary, which is one place attorney expertise pays for itself.
Estate Tax Planning
Tax-focused drafting is the most expensive add-on, but it only matters for larger estates. The federal estate tax exemption for 2026 is $15 million per person, or $30 million for a married couple, with inflation adjustments beginning in 2027 using 2025 as the base year.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 US Code 2010 – Unified Credit Against Estate Tax Most people will never owe federal estate tax. About a dozen states and the District of Columbia impose their own estate taxes with much lower thresholds, though. Oregon’s exemption is just $1 million and Massachusetts sets its at $2 million. If your estate exceeds a state threshold, the attorney may need to build tax-reduction strategies into the will or recommend a trust structure. That kind of planning can easily double the cost of the engagement.
What the Fee Usually Covers
When an attorney quotes a price for “a will,” the fee usually covers a small bundle of related documents. Ask what’s included before comparing quotes, because one attorney’s $800 will might come with documents that another attorney charges $2,000 for as a package.
Durable Power of Attorney
This document lets you name someone to handle your financial affairs if you become incapacitated. Your agent can pay bills, manage investments, file taxes, and handle banking on your behalf. Without one, your family would have to go to court and petition for a conservatorship or guardianship, which is slow, expensive, and public.
Health Care Power of Attorney
Sometimes called a health care proxy, this lets you designate someone to make medical decisions for you if you can’t communicate. Your agent can consent to treatment, choose between care options, and coordinate with your doctors. It’s a separate role from the financial power of attorney, and many people name different individuals for each.
Living Will
A living will spells out your wishes about end-of-life medical care, including whether you want life-sustaining treatments like mechanical ventilation or artificial nutrition. Paired with a health care power of attorney, it gives your loved ones both instructions and the legal authority to carry them out.
Online Will Services as a Cheaper Option
If your estate is genuinely simple, an online will service can handle the job for a fraction of the attorney cost. Prices for the major platforms range from free to roughly $250 for an individual, with couples typically paying $200 to $300. Some services charge an annual membership fee of $20 to $40 to allow updates after the initial setup.
These platforms walk you through a questionnaire and generate documents from your answers. The output is a legally valid will in most states, assuming you follow the execution requirements: signing in front of witnesses, and in some states, notarizing the document. For someone who is single or in a first marriage, has no minor children, owns a home and some retirement accounts, and simply wants everything to go to a spouse or a few named people, an online service is often adequate.
The limits show up fast once the situation gets more complicated. Online tools can’t advise you on whether a trust makes more sense than a will, help you navigate a blended family’s competing interests, draft around state-specific disinheritance protections, or build a tax minimization strategy. They generate documents. They don’t provide legal judgment. If you’re unsure whether your estate qualifies as “simple,” that uncertainty is itself a reason to at least consult an attorney.
When an Attorney Is Worth Paying
The gap between a $150 online will and a $1,000 attorney-drafted will feels big until you consider what a mistake costs. Probate litigation to resolve ambiguous language or contest a poorly drafted will can easily run tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees. The situations where hiring an attorney is strongly worth the money:
- Blended families, where stepchildren, prior-relationship children, and second marriages create competing inheritance interests that need precise drafting.
- Minor children, where naming a guardian and setting up a testamentary trust requires legal expertise to get right.
- Beneficiaries with disabilities, where a special needs trust must comply with federal benefit rules and errors can cost the beneficiary their government support.1Justia. Special Needs Trusts and Their Legal Impact on SSI Benefits
- Business ownership, where succession planning involves valuation, buyout provisions, and coordination with operating agreements.
- Property in multiple states, since each state has its own probate rules the will has to account for.
- Potential for a contest, where attorney involvement during drafting creates a stronger record that you had legal capacity and weren’t under undue influence.
- Estate tax exposure, where planning around a state exemption is beyond what any online questionnaire can do.
Costs After the Drafting Is Done
The drafting fee isn’t the last expense. A will needs to keep up with your life.
When your circumstances change significantly, such as a marriage, divorce, birth of a child, or a major change in assets, the will needs to be updated. Minor changes can sometimes be handled through a codicil, a formal amendment. More substantial changes usually mean drafting a new will entirely. Either way, expect to pay the attorney for the revision. Some attorneys include one round of revisions in the original fee; most charge separately for updates.
Execution involves small costs too. Most states require witnesses when you sign, and many attorneys recommend notarizing the will or attaching a self-proving affidavit to streamline probate later. Notary fees are minimal, typically $2 to $25 per signature depending on the state.
After death, the will has to be filed with the probate court, which charges a filing fee that varies widely by jurisdiction, generally $50 to $500. The probate process itself generates additional attorney and executor fees, which is one reason some people opt for a trust-based plan to reduce what their heirs pay later.
Getting an Accurate Quote
Before calling anyone, spend 30 minutes pulling together a rough picture of your situation. You don’t need exact account balances. You need a list of major assets (real estate, retirement accounts, investment accounts, life insurance), significant debts (mortgage, loans), your family structure (marital status, children, stepchildren, dependents), and any special circumstances (a child with a disability, business ownership, property in another state). The more complete this picture is, the more accurate the quote you’ll get.
Contact at least three estate planning attorneys in your area. When you call, ask specifically whether they charge a flat fee or hourly rate, and what documents are included in the quoted price. Many attorneys offer a free or low-cost initial consultation where they can assess your situation and give you a firm number. Use that meeting to ask about their process for future revisions and what those cost, because you will almost certainly need to update the will at some point.