How Much Does It Cost to Draft a Will or Trust in 2026?

What’s included in will and trust drafting cost

Estate planning documents are the product of an attorney learning enough about your family structure, assets, and intentions to draft documents that accurately carry out your wishes across a range of possible future scenarios. The $300-$2,500 range covers the initial consultation (often 60-90 minutes for a complete estate planning engagement), the drafting of the documents, and the signing ceremony — where the attorney acts as a witness and notary to ensure the documents are properly executed under your state’s law.

A basic estate plan typically includes a will (designating beneficiaries, naming an executor, and appointing a guardian for minor children), a durable financial power of attorney (designating someone to manage your finances if you become incapacitated), a healthcare directive or living will (specifying your wishes for end-of-life medical decisions), and a HIPAA authorization (allowing named individuals to receive medical information). Bundling these four documents is standard practice and usually priced as a package by estate planning attorneys, typically $800-$1,500 for a simple situation.

A revocable living trust — the core of a more complete estate plan — adds meaningfully to both cost and benefit. The trust itself is a legal entity that holds your assets during your lifetime, passes them to beneficiaries at death without probate, and continues managing assets if you become incapacitated. An attorney who drafts a trust typically also drafts a pour-over will (to catch any assets not transferred to the trust before death) and assignment documents for personal property. The drafting runs $1,500-$3,000 for a simple trust; the real work comes after: the trust must be funded — meaning your real estate, bank accounts, brokerage accounts, and other assets must be retitled in the trust’s name — or it accomplishes nothing when you die. An unfunded trust is one of the most common and costly estate planning failures.

When you’ll pay more than average

The $1,200 average reflects a will-and-directives bundle for a straightforward married couple or single individual with assets in one state and no competing family interests. Several circumstances push costs substantially higher.

Blended families — a remarriage where both spouses have children from prior relationships — require careful drafting to balance two legitimate sets of interests: the current spouse’s right to be supported after your death, and your children’s expectation of inheriting the assets you accumulated. A simple will leaving everything to your current spouse can effectively disinherit your children from a prior marriage if the surviving spouse remarries or rewrites their own will. Attorneys who handle blended family estates typically recommend a Qualified Terminable Interest Property (QTIP) trust or a credit shelter trust structure that provides for the surviving spouse while preserving a remainder for the children. This drafting typically runs $2,500-$5,000 for a couple.

Business ownership complicates everything. If you own a stake in a closely held business — even a small LLC — your estate plan must address what happens to that interest at your death. Does it transfer to your spouse (who may have no interest in running the business)? To a business partner (who may not want to manage a business with your estate as co-owner)? A buy-sell agreement funded by life insurance is the standard solution, but drafting it in coordination with the estate plan adds attorney time and typically $1,500-$3,000.

Estates above the federal estate tax exemption — currently $13.61 million per individual but scheduled to drop significantly after 2025 when the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provisions sunset — require estate tax planning strategies. Irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs), grantor-retained annuity trusts (GRATs), spousal lifetime access trusts (SLATs), and charitable remainder trusts each serve different goals. Planning and drafting at this level is properly the domain of specialists charging $3,000-$10,000+ for an integrated plan.

When you’ll pay less

Straightforward estates with modest assets, adult beneficiaries, and assets concentrated in a single state are genuine candidates for low-cost options. Reputable DIY platforms — Quicken WillMaker ($100-$200), Trust & Will ($200-$400), FreeWill (free for basic wills) — produce valid documents in most states for simple situations. The critical requirement is proper execution: most states require two adult witnesses who are not beneficiaries, and a notary for the self-proving affidavit that simplifies probate. A document signed incorrectly is invalid regardless of what it cost to produce.

Probate avoidance for modest estates can often be achieved without a trust. Naming beneficiaries directly on retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and bank accounts (via payable-on-death designations) removes those assets from probate automatically. A Transfer-on-Death deed for real property (available in about 30 states) achieves the same result for a home. For a modest estate where the primary asset is a house and a few accounts, this approach plus a basic will may be entirely adequate.

For seniors concerned about Medicaid planning — protecting assets from spend-down requirements for nursing home care — nonprofit legal aid organizations and law school elder law clinics provide free or low-cost estate planning. Many older adults who consider themselves solidly middle-class qualify based on income limits, which are often set at 200-250% of the federal poverty level.

Geography affects cost more than most people realize. Estate planning attorney rates in major metros (New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago) are typically $400-$600/hr, putting a standard trust package at $2,500-$4,500. The same documents produced by an equally competent attorney in a mid-size Midwestern city cost $1,200-$2,000. If you split your time between states — a retiree with a primary residence in Florida and a second home in Maine — your estate plan needs to account for both states’ laws, which adds complexity and often requires an attorney licensed in multiple jurisdictions or two attorneys in coordination.

Proper execution is the most underappreciated aspect of estate planning cost. In most states, a will must be signed in the presence of two adult witnesses who are not named beneficiaries in the document, and the signature notarized by a notary public to create a self-proving will that simplifies the probate process. An improperly executed will — signed alone, witnessed by a beneficiary, or notarized after the fact — may be invalid. A trust that is not funded — meaning no assets have been retitled into the trust’s name — provides no benefit when you die. Many DIY estate planning failures result not from bad documents but from improper execution or incomplete funding. Understand what proper execution requires in your state before attempting DIY estate planning.

This page is informational and is not legal advice. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.