The cost of a simple will runs from $0 to about $1,200. An attorney charges roughly $300 to $1,200 as a flat fee, online will services charge $0 to $250, and DIY kits top out around $50. Which end of that range you land on depends on how much handholding you want and how straightforward your estate actually is.
What Counts as a Simple Will
Those prices apply to a simple will, which handles the basics: it identifies you, names an executor, says who gets what, and can name a guardian for minor children. It fits people with straightforward finances, meaning no business interests, no property in multiple states, and no need for a trust.
The moment you add trusts, business succession, or provisions for a beneficiary with special needs, you’re past “simple” and into estate planning that costs meaningfully more. For any will to be valid, it has to be in writing, signed by you, and witnessed by at least two people who don’t inherit under it.
Attorney Flat Fees
Most estate planning attorneys quote a flat fee for a simple will rather than billing hourly. Expect $300 to $1,200, with $1,000 a common price point in many markets. The flat fee usually covers an initial consultation, drafting, and at least one round of revisions.
Hourly billing does exist, especially if the conversation drifts into more complex territory. Attorney hourly rates generally run $250 to $500, lower in small towns and higher in major cities. For a genuinely simple will, the flat fee is almost always the better deal because it caps your cost no matter how many questions you have.
Attorneys also bundle. A will paired with a financial power of attorney and a healthcare directive typically runs $2,000 to $5,000 or more depending on whether a trust is included. If you already know you want all three documents, buying them together is cheaper than adding them one by one later.
Online Will Services
Online platforms guide you through a questionnaire and generate a state-specific document. Pricing runs from free to about $250, which is why they’ve become the popular middle option.
At the free end, FreeWill and Fabric by Gerber let you create a basic will at no cost. FreeWill makes its money through nonprofit partnerships rather than user fees. On the paid side, LegalZoom starts at $99 for a basic individual will, Trust & Will charges $199, and Quicken WillMaker runs $109 to $219 depending on the plan. Higher tiers often add powers of attorney and healthcare directives.
Watch the update model. Some services charge a one-time fee with a short window for free changes, often 30 days to a year. Others use a subscription. Trust & Will charges $19 per year for will updates after the initial period. Quicken WillMaker charges $39 per year, though you can also download the software and edit locally without a subscription. FreeWill allows unlimited updates at no cost.
The trade-off is that online services don’t give personalized legal advice. The questionnaire only asks what it was built to ask. For a genuinely simple estate, that’s usually fine. If you’re not sure yours qualifies, an hour with an attorney is worth it.
DIY Kits
Downloadable templates and fill-in-the-blank kits cost from free to about $50. You do everything yourself: filling in the details, naming beneficiaries, printing, and running your own signing ceremony with witnesses.
The savings are real. So is the risk. There’s no legal guidance and no error checking. Ambiguous language about who inherits a particular asset, or a signing that doesn’t meet your state’s witness requirements, can create expensive problems for your heirs. If you go this route, paying an attorney to review the finished document is a reasonable compromise and costs far less than having one drafted from scratch.
Free Options
If cost is what’s stopping you, look before you pay:
- Legal aid organizations offer free will preparation to people who meet income guidelines.
- Law school clinics do the same under attorney supervision as part of their teaching programs.
- Veterans can access the Legal Services Corporation’s Veterans Pro Bono Grant Program, and many state and local bar associations run will-drafting clinics aimed at veterans and seniors. Availability is event-based and varies by location.
- Some employers include basic legal services as a benefit, often through a prepaid legal plan that covers simple will preparation. Check your benefits package before paying out of pocket.
Extra Costs the Price Tag Misses
The drafting fee isn’t the whole bill. A few smaller costs come with it.
A self-proving affidavit needs a notary. Adding one is worth doing because it lets the probate court accept the will without hunting down your witnesses later. Every state except Ohio and Washington, D.C. recognizes them. Notary fees for a standard signature run $2 to $15 in most states, up to $25 in a handful, with no statutory cap in some. Mobile notaries who travel to you charge an added trip fee.
You also need somewhere to keep the signed original. A fireproof home safe runs $30 to $150. Some attorneys store client originals at no extra charge, and some online platforms offer digital vault storage in their premium plans, though a digital copy isn’t a substitute for the signed original in most states. Making copies for your executor and writing a letter telling them where to find things costs essentially nothing but is easy to skip.
What It Costs to Update Later
A will isn’t one-and-done. Marriage, divorce, a new child, the death of a beneficiary or executor, a big change in assets, or a move to a new state should all trigger a rewrite.
If you used an online service, updates run from free to $39 per year. If you used an attorney, a codicil (a formal amendment to specific provisions) costs less than a new will but still involves attorney time. For bigger life changes like divorce or remarriage, most attorneys recommend drafting a fresh will rather than patching the old one, which means paying the full drafting fee again.
An outdated will can be worse than none. One that names an ex-spouse as primary beneficiary, or an executor who died years ago, produces exactly the confusion that runs up costs for the people you meant to help.
What Pushes the Price Up
Complexity is the biggest driver. Once your will has to handle business assets, out-of-state real estate, a blended family, or a trust for a minor, attorney fees for the full estate plan can reach $5,000 or more.
Geography matters too. An estate planning attorney in Manhattan or San Francisco charges meaningfully more than one in a mid-size Midwestern city. A senior attorney who does only estate planning charges more than a general practitioner, though the specialist is more likely to catch issues a generalist would miss.
Bundling cuts the per-document price. A will, power of attorney, and healthcare directive purchased together almost always costs less than buying each separately, because the attorney only has to gather your information once.
What It Costs to Skip It
The cheapest will is still cheaper than dying without one. When someone dies intestate, state law decides who inherits, starting with the closest relatives and working outward. If none can be found, the state keeps everything.
The financial hit is in the extra court work. An intestate estate usually needs more court involvement: the court appoints an administrator instead of an executor you picked, may require a probate bond that your will could have waived, and has to verify the family tree before anything gets distributed. When heirs disagree, and disagreements are more common without a will, legal costs climb fast. A contested estate can reach tens of thousands of dollars in fees, against the few hundred a simple will would have cost.
You also lose every choice a will lets you make: no guardian named for your children, nothing to friends or charities, and no say in which relatives get what. For most people, spending even $100 on an online will removes all of that risk.