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A last will and testament costs $0 if you handwrite it in a state that allows that, $199–$299 through an online service, or roughly several hundred to $1,000+ from an attorney for a straightforward estate. The price is not the interesting part — the rules are. Whether your will is valid depends entirely on which state you sign it in: how many witnesses, whether they must watch each other sign, whether a handwritten page counts, and whether your state has joined the handful that allow electronic wills. This page covers the national picture and links to our state-by-state guides, each verified against that state’s own statutes.
For most families, a will is an hour of work — not a legal project.
If you know who gets what, who’s in charge, and who raises your children, an online service like Trust & Will builds a state-specific will with the witness pages ready to sign.
Disclosure: we earn a commission if you buy through the Trust & Will links here, at no extra cost to you. Complex situations belong with an attorney and we say so below.
What a Will Costs (2026)
| Route | Typical cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Handwritten (holographic) | $0 | Emergencies only — and only legal in some states. The most-contested format in probate court |
| Free state form | $0 | California publishes an official fill-in-the-blanks Statutory Will. Rigid, but genuinely free and legally solid |
| Online service | $199 individual / $299 couple | Most families: clear wishes, ordinary assets, want it finished today |
| Attorney — simple will | Several hundred to $1,000+ | Anyone wanting counsel, or with a wrinkle worth a professional’s eye |
| Attorney — full plan | $1,500–$5,000+ | Trust-based plans, taxable estates, business owners, blended families |
Online pricing verified against Trust & Will’s published rates (August 2026). Attorney figures vary enormously by state and metro; where a state bar publishes a rate survey we cite it on that state’s page — Texas reports a median of $368/hour for private practitioners, and more than half of Florida attorneys bill over $350/hour. Most bars publish nothing, and we don’t invent numbers to fill the gap.
Online Service or Attorney? The 60-Second Answer
An online will is probably enough if: your wishes are straightforward, your assets are ordinary (home, accounts, retirement plans), your family isn’t blended, and everything you own sits in one state.
See an attorney if any of these apply: you have children from a previous relationship, you own property in more than one state, you own a business or farm, someone you love has a disability and receives benefits, your estate approaches your state’s estate-tax threshold, you want to disinherit someone, or you expect the will to be challenged.
The honest version: the document is the cheap part. What an attorney sells is judgment about your situation — and for a lot of families, there isn’t much to judge.
Will Requirements by State
Every state writes its own rules, and the differences are not cosmetic. Pennsylvania needs no witnesses at all for a will you sign yourself. Georgia lets a 14-year-old make one. Florida voids a handwritten will even if it was valid in the state where you wrote it. Massachusetts gives judges no power to rescue a will signed incorrectly.
Each guide below is written from that state’s statutes — execution requirements, handwritten and electronic wills, what happens if you die without one, and what it costs there.
| State | Witnesses | Handwritten will? | Electronic will? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 2 | No | No |
| Alaska | 2, may be separate | Yes — no date needed | No |
| Arizona | 2 | Yes — no date needed | Yes (2019) |
| Arkansas | 2 + declaration | Yes — but 3 witnesses to prove | No |
| California | 2, same time | Yes | No |
| Colorado | 2 or notary | Yes | Yes (2021) |
| Connecticut | 2, in your presence | No | No |
| Delaware | 2, in your presence | No — defective wills are void | No |
| District of Columbia | 2, in your presence | No — oral wills for military only | Yes (2023) |
| Florida | 2, mutual presence | No — even from other states | Yes (2020) |
| Georgia | 2 (age 14+) | No | No |
| Hawaii | 2, may be separate | Yes — no date needed | No |
| Idaho | 2, may be separate | Yes — no date needed | Yes (2023) |
| Illinois | 2 | No | Yes (2021) |
| Indiana | 2, mutual presence | No | Yes (2018) |
| Iowa | 2, together | No | No |
| Kansas | 2, saw or heard | No — oral wills allowed instead | No |
| Kentucky | 2, together | Yes — if wholly handwritten | Yes (2026) |
| Louisiana | 2 plus a notary | Yes — olographic | No |
| Maine | 2, may be separate | Yes — no date needed | No |
| Maryland | 2 | Military abroad only | Yes |
| Massachusetts | 2 | No | No |
| Michigan | 2 | Yes — must be dated | No |
| Minnesota | 2 | No | Yes (2023) |
| Mississippi | 2, in your presence | Yes — if wholly handwritten | No |
| Missouri | 2 | No | Yes (2025) |
| Montana | 2, may be separate | Yes — plus harmless error | No |
| Nebraska | 2, before your death | Yes — date, with exceptions | No |
| Nevada | 2 | Yes — must be dated | Yes (2001, first in US) |
| New Hampshire | 2, or remote via your attorney | No | No — expressly banned |
| New Jersey | 2 | Yes | No |
| New Mexico | 2, together | No — excluded by definition | No |
| New York | 2, within 30 days | Military/mariners only | Signed — effective mid-2027 |
| North Carolina | 2, may be separate | Yes | No |
| North Dakota | 2 or a notary | Yes — no date needed | Yes |
| Ohio | 2, in person only | No | No |
| Oklahoma | 2 + declaration | Yes — must be dated | Yes (2024) |
| Oregon | 2, may be separate | No | No — expressly banned |
| Pennsylvania | None required | Yes | No |
| Rhode Island | 2, present together | No | No |
| South Carolina | 2 | No | No |
| South Dakota | 2, in your presence | Yes — stated first | No |
| Tennessee | 2, mutual presence | Yes | No |
| Texas | 2 (age 14+) | Yes | No |
| Utah | 2, may be separate | Yes — no date needed | Yes (2020) |
| Vermont | 2, together | No | No |
| Virginia | 2, same time | Yes | No |
| Washington | 2 | No | Yes (2022) |
| West Virginia | 2, together | Yes — if wholly handwritten | No |
| Wisconsin | 2, may be separate | No | No |
| Wyoming | 2, in person or by video | Yes — must be entirely handwritten | No — remote witnessing only |
We publish a state only after reading that state’s statutes directly. The remaining states are in progress and appear here as each one is verified — we’d rather show 24 states we’ve checked than 51 we haven’t. Meanwhile, every state’s probate rules, taxes, and planning tools are compared here.
The Four Rules That Differ Most
1. How many witnesses, and how they sign. Two is nearly universal — Pennsylvania is the outlier, requiring none for a self-signed will. But how matters: Indiana, Tennessee, and Florida require the witnesses to sign in each other’s presence; North Carolina lets you witness with each one separately; New York gives them a 30-day window; Michigan and Arizona say only “within a reasonable time.”
2. Whether handwriting counts. Roughly half the states we’ve verified accept a will written wholly in your own hand with no witnesses. The details bite: Michigan requires a date, Arizona doesn’t; Tennessee and Virginia make two people prove your handwriting at probate; Maryland allows it only for service members signing overseas, and voids it a year after discharge. Florida refuses handwritten wills outright — including ones that were valid where you signed them, which is the single most dangerous rule for anyone retiring there.
3. Whether a judge can fix a mistake. Many states have a “harmless error” rule letting a court honor a defective will on clear and convincing evidence — Michigan’s is the broadest in the country. Massachusetts deliberately declined it. Virginia’s exists but cannot excuse a missing signature. Never plan around forgiveness: every rescue is litigation your family pays for.
4. Whether electronic wills are legal. Of the states verified so far, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, and Washington allow some form of electronic will, each with its own conditions — Arizona wants a copy of your government ID attached; Maryland requires you to be physically in Maryland; Washington built “electronic presence” into its core statute. New York signed an Electronic Wills Act in December 2025 that does not take effect until mid-2027. Everywhere else on this list, your will must be a signed physical document.
What a Will Does Not Do
1. A will does not avoid probate. This is the most common misunderstanding in estate planning. A will is a set of instructions to the probate court — it doesn’t skip the court. If probate avoidance is your goal, that’s what a living trust does: see what a living trust costs and how to avoid probate.
2. A will does not cover incapacity. It speaks only at death. If you’re alive but unable to make decisions, your will is silent — that’s the job of a durable power of attorney and healthcare documents. See the five documents every family needs.
3. A will does not override beneficiary designations. Life insurance, retirement accounts, and payable-on-death accounts pass to whoever is named on the form, regardless of what your will says. Families lose more money to stale beneficiary forms than to defective wills.
4. A will does not reduce estate tax. Federal and state estate taxes apply with or without one. See our federal exemption tracker and state estate tax guide.
Do You Need a Will or a Trust?
Most families end up with both — a trust to hold the assets and a “pour-over” will to catch whatever didn’t make it in. The practical question is which one you start with. A will is the baseline every adult needs: it names guardians for your children, names who’s in charge, and replaces your state’s default formula with your actual wishes. A trust earns its cost when you own a home in a high-probate state, have a blended family, own property in more than one state, or want your affairs kept private.
Work through it in Trust vs. Will: Which Does Your Family Need?, or start with your state’s rules from the table above.
How Much Does a Will Cost — FAQ
How much does a will cost?
$199–$299 through an online service, several hundred to $1,000+ for an attorney-drafted simple will, or $0 if you handwrite one in a state that recognizes holographic wills. A full attorney-drafted estate plan with a trust runs $1,500–$5,000+.
Is a cheap online will legally valid?
Yes, if you execute it correctly. Online services produce a state-specific document; what makes it valid is the signing ceremony — the right number of witnesses, doing the right things, in the right presence. That’s where do-it-yourself wills usually fail, not in the wording.
Does a will have to be notarized?
In no state we’ve verified is notarization required for a will to be valid. Many states use a notarized “self-proving affidavit” so your witnesses don’t have to testify at probate — strongly recommended, but separate from validity. California uses no notary at all.
Can I write my own will by hand?
In some states, yes — with no witnesses, if the material terms and signature are in your handwriting. In others it’s void. Check your state in the table above before relying on it, and treat handwritten wills as an emergency measure regardless: they’re the most-litigated format in probate.
What happens if I die without a will?
Your state’s intestacy statute decides — and the results surprise almost everyone. In Illinois your spouse gets half if you have children, even in a first marriage. In Arizona, a child from a prior relationship takes your half of the community property instead of your spouse. In North Carolina your spouse co-owns the land with your children. No state’s default names a guardian for your kids.
How long does it take to make a will?
About an hour online, plus a signing ceremony with witnesses. Attorney-drafted wills typically take one to three weeks from first meeting to signing.
Methodology & Sources
Every entry in the state table was read from that jurisdiction’s own statute and is cited on the state’s own page. Witness counts, holographic (handwritten) will recognition and electronic will authorization are taken from the operative statute text rather than from a summary, because effective dates in this area frequently differ from the dates given in bill summaries.
Four jurisdictions — Arkansas, New Mexico, Mississippi and Alaska — publish no free official online statute text. For those, a republisher was used, and each state page says so in its update log.
Electronic will provisions are frequently enacted outside the wills chapter, so each state was checked for a separate chapter or part before it was recorded as having none. Colorado, Idaho, North Dakota and the District of Columbia all place theirs elsewhere in the code.
Cite or Link This Page
Journalists, attorneys, and financial educators are welcome to cite these tables with attribution:
Will Requirements and Costs by State (2026), Family Estate Guide, https://familyestateguide.com/will-cost/
Deep links: 51-jurisdiction requirements table · cost by route · the four rules that differ most
Licensed under CC BY 4.0 — reuse, republish, or adapt this material, including commercially, with credit to Family Estate Guide and a link to this page. The license covers our compilation and analysis; underlying source data remains subject to its original terms.
Update Log
- August 2026 — Table completed for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Reflects Kentucky SB 50 (effective July 15, 2026), which added an electronic wills act and rewrote the intestacy scheme; Nebraska LB838 (operative July 18, 2026); Oregon 2025 ch. 34 (effective January 1, 2026), which added harmless error and expressly excluded electronic records from “writing”; and Louisiana Act 30 (effective August 1, 2025), which repealed five Civil Code articles retroactively.
- Next scheduled review — October 2026, alongside the annual IRS revenue procedure refresh applied across our reference tables.
Update log — August 2026: page created. State rules in the table are taken from each state’s own statutes and cited on that state’s guide; the table grows as each remaining state is verified. Online pricing checked against Trust & Will’s published rates, August 2026. Reviewed when state laws change — including New York’s Electronic Wills Act, which takes effect in mid-2027.