Getting a will done costs anywhere from nothing to several thousand dollars. A simple will through an online service runs roughly $0 to $250. An attorney-drafted will for a straightforward estate typically falls between $300 and $1,500. Add complexity — a business, property in more than one state, a blended family, a trust — and the price climbs from there. Most people also end up buying companion documents like a power of attorney and a healthcare directive, which pushes the total higher.
Online and DIY Will Services
Online will platforms are the cheapest route. At least one major platform offers wills at no cost. Most charge a one-time fee of $100 to $250 for an individual. Couples usually pay another $100 to $200 for a joint or mirrored plan. Some services add an annual renewal fee of $19 to $39 if you want to keep editing after the first year.
You answer a questionnaire, the platform drops your answers into a state-specific template, and you print, sign, and get the document witnessed. For a simple situation, the output is legally valid. The limit is the template itself. It handles common scenarios well and struggles with anything unusual, which is where the upfront savings can turn into a probate court bill for your family later.
Attorney-Drafted Wills
Most estate planning attorneys quote a flat fee for a simple will, generally $300 to $1,500 for an individual. “Simple” means you know who gets what, you have no business interests, no blended-family complications, and no need for a trust built into the will. Couples often pay a combined rate below double the individual price.
For more complicated estates, attorneys may raise the flat fee or switch to hourly billing. Hourly rates for estate planning attorneys run roughly $150 to $400, sometimes more, depending on experience and location. A will with a testamentary trust, tax planning provisions, or carefully structured guardianship arrangements can take several hours of drafting and consultation and land in the $1,500 to $3,000 range.
What you’re paying for beyond the document is judgment. An attorney flags issues you didn’t know existed: assets that pass outside the will because they have named beneficiaries, state rules that could override your wishes, phrasing that reads clearly to you but ambiguously to a probate court.
The Full Estate Planning Package
A will alone rarely covers the whole picture. Most adults also need a durable power of attorney so someone can handle their finances during incapacity, a healthcare directive so someone can make medical decisions, and sometimes a living trust. Attorneys usually bundle these.
A basic package of a will, power of attorney, and healthcare directive runs roughly $1,500 to $3,000 for an individual. A comprehensive plan that adds a revocable living trust typically costs $2,000 to $5,000 or more. Bundles almost always beat buying each document separately, so ask about package pricing upfront if you know you need more than a will.
Online platforms sell bundles too, generally $150 to $400. Same template limits apply.
What Pushes the Price Up
Complexity is the single biggest cost factor. A will for someone with one bank account and a clear beneficiary is a quick job. Rental properties, a stake in a business, investment accounts spread across brokerages, or assets in more than one state all add drafting time and planning.
Family structure matters as much as asset mix. Blended families with children from prior relationships need precise language to balance a current spouse’s interests against children from earlier marriages. Minor children mean naming a guardian, and if you want to control how and when they receive their inheritance, you need a testamentary trust built into the will. A testamentary trust takes effect at your death and holds assets for a beneficiary until they reach an age or milestone you set.1Legal Information Institute. Testamentary Trust That kind of drafting adds meaningfully to the bill.
Estate tax planning raises costs for wealthier families, though most people fall well below the threshold where federal estate tax applies.2Internal Revenue Service. What’s New — Estate and Gift Tax
When a DIY Will Works and When It Doesn’t
A DIY will is a reasonable choice if you’re single or married with no children from prior relationships, own no real estate or just a primary residence, have modest savings and retirement accounts with named beneficiaries, and want a straightforward distribution plan. The legal questions in that situation are simple enough for a well-designed template.
The situations where DIY wills tend to fail are predictable. If any of these apply, paying an attorney almost certainly costs less than cleaning up problems later:
- You have minor children and need a guardian nomination, possibly with a trust to manage their inheritance.
- You have a blended family with competing interests between a spouse and children from prior relationships.
- You own a business and need succession planning a template won’t address.
- You own property in multiple states, each with its own probate rules.
- You have a special needs beneficiary whose inheritance could disqualify them from government benefits unless it sits in the right kind of trust.
- You’re disinheriting a spouse or child who would otherwise inherit by default, which requires careful language to survive a challenge.
The common thread is anything that creates ambiguity or invites a legal challenge. A template gives you a document. An attorney gives you a document that holds up under pressure.
Living Trust Pricing
People shopping for a will often look at a revocable living trust as the alternative, and the price gap is real. An attorney-drafted living trust typically runs $1,000 to $4,000, compared with $300 to $1,500 for a standalone will. Online trust packages run $150 to $500.
The payoff is that assets held in a trust skip probate, which can save your heirs months and thousands in court costs and attorney fees. The tradeoff is more work upfront: you have to retitle assets into the trust — real estate deeds, account registrations, beneficiary designations. Anything you forget to move still goes through probate, which is why most people with a living trust also need a pour-over will as a backup.
For modest estates and uncomplicated family situations, a will is usually enough. A living trust makes more sense if you own real estate in multiple states, value privacy, or want to minimize what your heirs face after your death.
Smaller Costs To Budget For
Notarization
A will doesn’t need to be notarized to be valid in most states, but attaching a notarized self-proving affidavit is almost always worth the small fee. The affidavit is a signed, notarized statement from you and your witnesses confirming the will was properly executed, and nearly every state accepts one. It means your witnesses won’t have to be tracked down and brought to court during probate.3Legal Information Institute. Wex – Will Notary fees for a single signature are typically $5 to $15, and many banks and shipping stores offer the service free or close to it.
Updating Your Will
Small changes, like swapping an executor or adjusting a specific gift, can be handled through a codicil, a short amendment attached to the existing will. An attorney might charge $100 to $300 for one. Major changes — a new marriage, divorce, birth of a child, big shift in assets — generally call for an entirely new will at a cost similar to the original. If you used an online platform, some include free updates with an annual subscription; others charge a renewal fee to unlock editing.
Probate Filing Fees Come Later
You pay nothing to a court while you’re alive. A will is only filed with the court after death, when someone submits it for probate, and the filing fee comes out of the estate, not out of your pocket during planning.
Free and Low-Cost Options
If attorney pricing is a barrier, a few paths cost little or nothing. Legal aid organizations funded through the Legal Services Corporation provide free civil legal help, including will drafting, to people who meet income limits. Active-duty military members and their families can get wills drafted at no cost through military legal assistance offices on base.
Some state and local bar associations run periodic wills clinics or pro bono programs where volunteer attorneys draft simple wills for free, often targeting seniors and low-income residents. Your local bar association’s website is the best place to look for upcoming events.
About half the states recognize holographic wills — handwritten wills that don’t require witnesses — as a last resort. Requirements vary, and the risk of a handwritten will being challenged in court is real.4Legal Information Institute. Holographic Will Treat it as a stopgap until you can afford something more formal.