The cost to make a will and trust generally falls between $300 and $1,000 for an attorney-drafted will and $1,500 to $3,000 for a revocable living trust, with most people spending $2,000 to $5,000 for a complete package that includes both documents plus powers of attorney and a healthcare directive. Where you land in those ranges depends on how complicated your assets are, where you live, and whether you buy documents individually or as a bundle.
What Moves the Price
Complexity is the biggest lever. A home, a retirement account, and a checking account make for a straightforward plan. Add a business interest, rental property, a blended family, or a child with special needs, and the attorney’s time doubles or triples. Location matters too. Attorneys in major metros charge more than those in smaller markets, and hourly rates run roughly $150 to $400 depending on experience and region.
Document type drives cost as well. A standalone will is the cheapest thing an estate attorney drafts. A revocable living trust costs more because it involves both the trust agreement and the work of moving your assets into it. Irrevocable and specialty trusts cost the most, since they bring tax planning and compliance along for the ride.
Fee structures vary. Some attorneys quote flat fees for standard packages. Others bill hourly. If you get an hourly quote, ask for an estimate of total hours before you sign anything.
Cost of a Will
A basic will that names beneficiaries, appoints an executor, and designates guardians for minor children runs about $300 to $1,000 when an attorney drafts it. Prices near the top of that range are common in urban areas, and $1,200 is not unusual for attorneys with deep estate planning experience. More elaborate wills, including those with testamentary trust provisions, specific bequests of personal property, or tax-sensitive distribution plans, can push the price to $1,500 or more.
Small changes later can be handled by a codicil, which is a formal amendment to the existing will. Codicils cost less than a new will, but the savings are smaller than people expect, because the attorney still has to review the original document for consistency. After two or three codicils, most attorneys recommend starting fresh. Stacking amendments creates confusion and raises the risk of a challenge in probate.
Cost of a Trust
Trusts cost more upfront than wills, and they do more work. A revocable living trust, which is the type most families use, has a national median cost around $2,500 when drafted by an attorney, with typical pricing between $1,500 and $3,000. That fee usually covers the trust agreement, a pour-over will that catches any assets you forget to transfer in, and the certificates of trust you’ll need when retitling accounts.
Irrevocable trusts cost more because they involve permanent transfers and often require tax analysis. Expect $3,000 to $7,000 depending on structure. Specialty trusts cost more still.
- A special needs trust, designed to provide for a disabled beneficiary without disqualifying them from government benefits, generally runs $4,000 to $5,000 in attorney fees.
- A charitable trust, used for tax-advantaged giving and usually requiring coordination with an accountant, frequently exceeds $5,000.
- An irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT), which keeps life insurance proceeds out of your taxable estate, typically costs $2,500 to $5,000.
For estates large enough to approach the federal estate tax threshold, advanced trust strategies require attorneys who specialize in tax planning, and the fees reflect that expertise.
Bundled Estate Planning Packages
Most attorneys sell estate planning as a package rather than pricing each document separately, and that’s how the majority of people actually buy it. A typical package includes either a will or a trust, a durable power of attorney for finances, a healthcare power of attorney, and a living will or advance directive. Buying them together costs less than commissioning each one on its own.
A will-based package with the companion documents generally runs $1,000 to $2,500. A trust-based package, including the revocable trust, pour-over will, and supporting documents, typically costs $2,000 to $5,000 or more. If you’re already paying for a trust, adding the powers of attorney and healthcare directive costs relatively little, and skipping them is a common mistake. Without a financial power of attorney, your family may need a court-supervised guardianship just to pay your bills if you become incapacitated, and that process costs far more than the document would have.
DIY and Online Options
Online platforms and template kits are a budget alternative for genuinely simple estates. Will templates range from free to about $100. Online will services charge roughly $50 to $500, with the price climbing when you add a trust or power of attorney. Online trust packages typically run $500 to $1,500.
These tools work best for someone who is single or in a first marriage, has modest assets, has no business interests, and has no blended-family complications. The moment any of those conditions change, the risk of the document failing to do what you intended rises sharply. Online services don’t give personalized advice. They can’t spot a beneficiary designation on your retirement account that conflicts with your will, and they won’t flag a title issue on your house. Errors in estate documents often don’t surface until after death, when nobody is around to explain what you actually meant.
One cost people overlook with any approach is execution. A will or trust has to be properly signed, witnessed, and in some states notarized. Notary fees are set by state law and typically run $2 to $15 per signature, though a handful of states allow up to $25. A mobile notary who comes to your home adds anywhere from $25 to $100 or more in travel fees. Small amounts individually, but they stack up across a signing session.
Funding a Trust
Creating a trust is only half the job. The trust controls nothing until you transfer your assets into it, a process called funding. Plenty of people pay an attorney to draft a trust, put it in a drawer, and never retitle their accounts. An unfunded trust does nothing to avoid probate.
Funding costs depend on what you’re moving in. Most banks and brokerages retitle accounts into a trust name at no charge, though some charge a small processing fee; the real cost is your time on paperwork. Real estate takes a new deed, which means deed preparation fees of roughly $200 to $500 per property through your attorney, plus county recording fees that generally run $50 to $150 per document. Retirement accounts and life insurance aren’t retitled into the trust at all. Instead, you update the beneficiary designations, which is free but critical. Getting those designations wrong can override everything your trust says.
Some attorneys include basic funding assistance in the trust package fee. Others charge separately for each transfer, which can add $500 to $1,500 to the total for a family with a home and several accounts. Ask before you sign the fee agreement.
Ongoing Costs After a Trust Is Created
A will sits quietly until you die. A trust can generate ongoing expenses while you’re alive and after.
The biggest is professional trustee compensation. A bank, trust company, or other professional trustee usually charges an annual management fee of 1% to 2% of trust assets, with minimum annual fees often in the $3,500 to $5,000 range. A smaller trust pays a disproportionately high effective rate under those minimums. On a $200,000 trust, a 1% fee is $2,000, but a $5,000 minimum pushes the effective rate to 2.5%.
Naming a family member as trustee avoids that fee, but family trustees often need professional help with taxes and accounting. An irrevocable trust, and sometimes a revocable trust after the grantor’s death, must file IRS Form 1041 if it earns $600 or more in gross income during the year. Preparing that return generally costs $500 to $1,500 a year depending on complexity.
Amendments are the other recurring cost. Marriages, divorces, births, and major purchases often call for an update. A simple amendment typically runs $300 to $500. A full restatement, which rewrites the trust from scratch while keeping the same legal entity, runs $2,000 or more. If you anticipate frequent changes, ask your attorney whether a restatement makes more sense than stacking amendments.
What It Costs to Skip Planning
The price of a will or trust reads differently next to the cost of dying without one. When someone dies intestate, state law dictates who inherits, and the estate goes through full probate with no shortcuts. Courts appoint an administrator, require surety bonds, and the process runs longer.
Probate typically consumes 3% to 8% of an estate’s total value in court fees, attorney fees, and executor compensation. Dying without a will can add thousands more in legal fees and months to the timeline compared with an estate that had even basic planning.
A revocable living trust avoids probate entirely for assets held inside it. Post-death administration for a well-funded trust is often just a few thousand dollars. Even counting the upfront cost of creating and funding the trust, the math favors planning for most families with meaningful assets, particularly real estate. A $2,000 to $5,000 investment while you’re healthy looks like a bargain from the other side.