What Does a Will Cost?

It’s a fair question, and one we often get.

But it’s a question that requires context to answer properly. Context in a couple of forms. First, the practical context is important. The cost of any legal project can vary widely, depending on how simple or complex is the project. The same is true of medical treatment. Treating a sinus infection is far less complex than treating a heart condition.

So if you contacted us with this question, the first thing we would want to do for you is to assess what you expressed to be your greatest needs, goals, and aspiration for your future and that of your family. Once we understood your objectives, next we would discuss any issues we observed that we think you should consider. Finally, we would present options to you that would check all of the boxes, the goals you said were most important. And for the first time, we could tell you exactly the price of each option.

There is a second element of context to this question. Because where Wills are concerned, there is more to the cost than just what the lawyer charges to prepare it. Those other costs result from the nature of wills in our legal system. Wills are an integral part of the Texas probate system. Wills depend on probate courts and their judges to be enforced. They are not enforceable when you sign them, or at any time during your lifetime.

Wills are testaments. The nature of testaments are that they cannot be enforced until after the death of the one who made them. And then only if a probate judge approves it. Probate cases cost money. How much? A lot more than the Will cost you. Just how much more depends on a number of factors .

Probate costs money. Court costs and attorney fees associated with filing the Will to be approved as your Last Will and Testament. How much money? Again it depends on how complicated your estate property and debts may be, but in 2015 the average cost of a probate proceeding in Texas was between $10,000 and $15,000. That was the average for all probates, so certainly simpler probates were less expensive. By comparison, at our firm the average probate of a Will costs about $5,000. So, for a married couple, the cost of two probate proceedings can easily be $10,000 or more.

The real answer to the cost of a Will includes more than just the cost to prepare it. It also includes the cost of the probate proceedings it locks your family into. Even a set of Wills prepared for a few hundred dollars will actually cost the family an additional $10,000 to $15,000 or more. And that’s just death probate, the cost to probate a Will.

Because Wills are only effective after your death, they provide no help to you if you become disabled later in life. Management of your property during disability is left to an agent you may appoint under a power of attorney. But if that doesn’t work well (and it often doesn’t), then your loved ones are confronted by the reality of living probate, or guardianship.

What is guardianship? It is another lawsuit, also filed in probate court, in which your family may sue you, asking the judge to declare you incapacitated and appoint them as the guardian of your property. There are two lawyers’ fees to pay in a guardianship. Your family member’s lawyer and the lawyer the court will appoint to represent you. Both are paid out of your savings. And the paying just keeps going as long as your disability continues.

In a guardianship, the judge is in charge of your property, not your guardian. Your guardian can spend only out of your income. Any other expense, for (a) motions requesting the judge’s permission to pay a bill out of your savings, (b) requests to sell assets to provide for your care, or (c) mandatory annual accountings that must be filed, balancing your checkbook for the judge, among many others.