How Much Does A Will Cost?

Generally speaking, the cost of making a Will can range anywhere from being free to a few thousand dollars. The ultimate cost of making a Will actually depends upon a lot of different factors. The biggest components are — complexity, size of the Estate, and how you are willing to complete your Will.

Getting a Will sorted out is a very important part of your legacy, as it lets you give your loved ones good gifts and also protects them after you are gone (financially).

In this article, I will be discussing “how much does a Will cost” and every related factor that contributes to it. Keep reading till the end of the article to find out more information about the same!

Best Practiced Ways Of Creating A Will

There are a whole lot of ways how a Will can be created, but there are a few methods that are mainly practiced in the region of the United States. Now onto answering your query on “how much does a Will cost”? Well, here is a list of some of the more popular ways how you are going to be able to create a Will:

DIY-Will

If you are someone who has a really limited asset and a small estate then the Do-It-Yourself’er option might work out the best for you. Even though just about anyone can technically create their own Will, there are a lot of present drawbacks to it. The low-cost/free templates available are really tempting but the posed risks are drastic.

For instance, using a pre-formatted template that does not take into account the goals, personal needs or even the present situation is very problematic.

When opting for this option, the first thing that you risk is creating such a document that ends up legally being invalid in your residing state.

Will Maker – Online

There’s also availability of Will Maker (online) avenues, that you can choose for creating your own Will. The costs vary a great deal depending on the platform that you choose.

A major con that you can face when opting for this method is choosing an online service that doesn’t offer what the other high-end services do.

Most of the online Wills actually come with other associated legal documents like health and financial care, directives of advanced health care, and living wills.

Lawyer Made Will

Straight off the bat, I would like to inform you that hiring a lawyer for creating a will is going to prove to be costly for you. But at the same time, you also need to know that this route is not always necessary.

Lawyers are generally known to charge either by hour or by a flat rate when it comes to Estate Planning. Either of these options is going to cost you significantly a lot more than the earlier discussed options.

How much does it cost to make a will with a lawyer? Well, you can expect to pay up anywhere from $200-$600 for making a basic will. On the other hand, if you have a complicated estate and even more than that, then you are very quickly going to fall under a thousand-dollar range.

When choosing an attorney make sure to choose an experienced one, otherwise, an inexperienced one is going to take a much longer time in drafting your Will, which is only going to increase your overall associated costs even more.

Other Inexpensive Ways Of Drawing Up A Will

Now that we have a basic idea about how much it costs to make a will, let’s discuss the lesser-priced options/methods. Apart from online Will makers, there are also a lot of other cost-effective ways that can aid in making a Will without having to pay expensive attorney fees.

Will Software And Templates

This is a great way of making a Will – by purchasing/downloading templates. These templates are also very handy as they aid in filling up the blanks for completing a will.

A few of them are also free but at the same time, there are also premium quality options that cost around $8-$25 (exclusive of shipping and tax) on e-comm sites like Amazon.

The software ones cost a bit more, maybe about $50 and these can be found in brick-and-mortar stores like Office Depot. These ones also tend to be more expensive as they give instructions on how to correctly fill out the form. It also gives you a guide on what all of those fancy legal terms mean.

Holographic Will

This sort of Will gets handwritten or typed in nature. After which the person just needs to sign them.

But there are a lot of cons to Holographic Wills as well. One being the fact that not all of these Wills are considered to be legitimate. Hence, if your state does not accept this home-made Will, then the Courts are going to distribute all of the stuff based on the residing State’s laws.

Additionally, the fact also remains that State laws are always ever-changing. This indicates, that even if the Will follows rules now, it might not when the State changes laws or if a person moves out of state.

To Wrap It Up!

It is very normal if you feel a little overwhelmed by the thought of creating a will. But also know that only wondering about “how much does a will cost” shouldn’t keep you from this crucial piece of “preparing for the future”.

Thank you for reading up till the end. I hope you found the information about this particular topic useful.

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