How Much Does a Will Cost in 2026?

How much does a will cost?

Online prices are from each company's pricing page, checked October 25, 2026. Lawyer prices are from a March 2026 study by Legal Templates, which collected quotes from 909 law firms in all 50 states and D.C. Legal Templates sells DIY legal documents, so keep that in mind (Legal Templates).

Can you make a will for free?

Yes. A will doesn't have to cost anything to be valid. What matters is signing it the way your state requires. Free options include:

• Our free will builder. No account is needed, and your answers stay in your browser. It writes a will, or a codicil to the will you have, with a state-specific signing checklist. It doesn't prepare wills for Louisiana or North Carolina residents.
• FreeWill, a free online will maker paid for by more than 2,400 nonprofit partners (FreeWill).
• Official state forms. States including California (Prob. Code §6240), Michigan (MCL 700.2519) and Wisconsin (Wis. Stat. §853.55) publish fill-in-the-blank wills. Fill in the blanks only; don't add or cross out words.
• Legal help for older adults. The Older Americans Act funds legal assistance for people 60 and older with the greatest economic and social need. Colorado's program, for example, lists preparing wills among its services (Colorado Department of Human Services). Ask your local Area Agency on Aging.
• Military legal assistance. Service members on active duty, retirees and their dependents can get legal help from military legal offices, subject to staff availability (10 U.S.C. §1044).

Free tools don't give legal advice. If your situation is complicated, read can I write my own will? first.

How much do online will services cost?

Sources: Quicken WillMaker & Trust, LegalZoom and Trust & Will pricing pages, October 2026. Prices change often, and some companies show different prices on different pages, so confirm at checkout. Before you pay, check whether a plan renews automatically and how to cancel.

How much does a lawyer charge for a will?

In the Legal Templates study, the median quote was $625 for a standalone will, and half of firms quoted between $450 and $1,000. A package with a will and powers of attorney had a median of $1,000. Only about 6% of firms billed hourly; the rest quoted flat fees. Prices varied more between firms in the same state than between states: most state medians for a will fell between $500 and $900.

If a lawyer bills by the hour, Clio, a legal software company, reports an average rate of $371 an hour for wills and estates lawyers and $397 for trusts, based on 2025 data from tens of thousands of legal professionals. Average lawyer rates across all practice areas ranged from $196 an hour in West Virginia to $492 in D.C. (Clio, updated March 2026).

Before hiring, ask what the fee includes: how many drafts, whether the lawyer supervises the signing, and whether powers of attorney and a health care directive are part of it.

What affects the cost of a will?

• Complexity. Trusts, tax planning, business interests and special-needs planning take more work. A living trust's median ($2,475) was about four times a will's ($625) in the 2026 study.
• Number of documents. Packages bundle a will with powers of attorney and health care documents. A standalone power of attorney had a median of $300.
• Couples. A couple's will package had a median of $1,500, or $750 per person.
• Who you hire. Experience and local market matter, and firm-to-firm differences are often larger than state-to-state differences.
• Subscriptions. Some online plans add monthly or yearly fees for attorney access, storage or changes.

What other costs should you plan for?

Notarizing a self-proving affidavit. It's optional in most states, but it saves your witnesses a trip to court later. Many states cap notary fees. Florida allows up to $10 per notarial act (Fla. Stat. §117.05), and Texas $10 for the first signature and $1 for each additional one (Tex. Gov't Code §406.024). California, D.C., Maryland and Ohio don't use notarized self-proving affidavits. Where online signing is allowed, one service, Proof, charges $25 for the first notary seal, $15 for each additional seal and $15 for each witness it provides (Proof). See signing a will online.

Storage. Some states let you deposit your will with a court for safekeeping. In Texas, the county clerk charges $5 (Tex. Estates Code §252.001). Check your state's page.

Updates. Plan to revise your will after a marriage, divorce, birth, death or move. Check how long free changes last: 30 days on LegalZoom's Basic and Pro plans, one year on its Premium plan and on WillMaker. See how to change a will.

Probate, later. Your estate, not you, pays probate costs, and they can far exceed the cost of the will. In California, the executor and the estate's lawyer can each take a fee set by statute: 4% of the first $100,000, 3% of the next $100,000 and 2% of the next $800,000. On a $1 million estate, that's $23,000 each, or $46,000 combined (Cal. Prob. Code §10800, §10810). Beneficiary designations, joint ownership and living trusts can keep assets out of probate. See how to avoid probate and will vs. living trust.

Estate tax applies only to estates over $15 million per person in 2026 (IRS), though some states tax smaller estates. See estate tax in 2026.