Most websites in our field dance around this question. We would rather just answer it, because it is the first thing everyone wants to know and there is no good reason to hide it behind a contact form.
The honest answer is that a will can cost anything from nothing to several hundred pounds, and the cheapest option is not always the one that protects your family best. Here is a straight comparison, including who each option genuinely suits, and where we would send you elsewhere.
The short answer
For a straightforward single will, expect to pay somewhere between nothing and about £500 depending on the route you take. Mirror wills for a couple typically cost more than a single will but less than two. Anything involving a trust, a business, property abroad or a complicated family situation costs more, and should.
If you want our numbers before the detail: a single will from £195, mirror wills from £350, both including VAT, fixed and agreed in writing before we start.
Free will schemes
Charities run schemes such as Free Wills Month and Will Aid, where a solicitor writes a simple will in the hope of a donation to the charity. Some employers and some membership organisations also offer a free will as a benefit, and some charities run their own year-round schemes.
Who they suit: people with very straightforward wishes who can catch a scheme when it is running. They are a genuinely good thing and we will happily point you towards one if it is the best fit for you.
Worth knowing: they are usually limited to simple wills, they run in specific months, and demand means appointments go quickly. If your situation has any real complexity, the scheme may decline it or charge for the extra work.
DIY will kits and online templates
A few pounds for a paper kit from a stationer, or anywhere from free to about £100 for an online service.
Who they suit: in our honest opinion, almost no one beyond the very simplest cases. Small mistakes in wording, signing or witnessing can make a will invalid or cause disputes after you die, when it is far too late to fix. Many cheap wills cost families a great deal more to untangle later than a properly drafted will would have cost in the first place.
That said, we would rather you made a careful DIY will than no will at all. If you go that route, read our guide on the problems with cheap and DIY wills first, because it sets out exactly where they go wrong.
Professional will writers
Typically £100 to £300 for a single will, £200 to £500 for mirror wills.
Who they suit: most people, for a straightforward or moderately complex will. You get proper drafting and advice for a fixed fee, usually at a lower cost than a solicitor, from someone who does this and little else.
Worth checking: will writing is not a reserved legal activity, so the quality varies. Check for professional indemnity insurance and membership of a recognised body. We set out the full checklist in our guide on how to choose a will writer, and we would encourage you to apply it to us as well as to anyone else.
Solicitors
Typically £200 to £600 or more for a single will, and more again where the work is complex or charged by the hour.
Who they suit: people with genuinely complex affairs, large or international estates, business interests, or a real prospect that the will could be challenged. In those situations paying more is worth it, and we will say so. Our guide on will writer or solicitor goes into where each has the edge.
What our wills cost
We publish our prices because we think you should be able to see them without speaking to anyone.
A single will is from £195. Mirror wills for a couple are from £350. A codicil, which is a formal amendment to an existing will, is £95. A document or will review is £45.
All of those include VAT, and all are fixed and confirmed in writing before any work starts. The first consultation is free and there is no obligation to go ahead. Trusts, lasting powers of attorney and inheritance tax planning are priced separately and listed in full on our pricing page.
The costs people forget
The will itself is rarely the only number involved.
Lasting powers of attorney are a separate document and a separate job. The Office of the Public Guardian also charges £92 to register each one, which is a government fee rather than anything a will writer or solicitor keeps. Our LPA guide explains how that works.
Storage. Some firms store the will they wrote for free; others charge. Ours is £40 a year or £295 for life, and the options are compared in our guide on storing a will safely.
Updating it later. Life changes. Ask what a future amendment costs before you choose a provider, because an apparently cheap will with expensive amendments is not cheap.
Probate, eventually. Administering an estate after a death has its own costs, separate from the will. We refer probate work to a regulated specialist rather than doing it ourselves, which you can read about on our probate page.
What actually makes a will worth paying for
It is not the paperwork. You can buy paperwork for five pounds.
What you are paying for is somebody asking the right questions: about the child from a previous relationship, the business, the property abroad, the beneficiary who should not receive a lump sum, the house owned as joint tenants when you assumed you could leave your half to someone else. A template cannot ask any of those questions, and the cost of missing one of them dwarfs the cost of the will.
You are also paying for the will to be validly executed, which is where a startling number of home-made wills fail.
How to compare two quotes properly
Ask both providers the same five questions.
- Is the fee fixed, and will you put it in writing before starting?
- What exactly is included, and what would cost extra?
- Do you hold professional indemnity insurance, and with whom?
- What does it cost to change my will in a few years?
- Where will the will be stored, what does that cost, and what happens to it if you stop trading?
A provider who answers all five clearly is telling you something useful. One who will not is telling you something too.
Getting a price for yours
If it would help to know exactly what yours would cost, we are happy to confirm a fixed price with no obligation, and if a free scheme or a solicitor is genuinely a better fit for you than we are, we will tell you that instead.
You can see everything on our pricing page or get in touch for a free first conversation.
General information, not legal advice. Prices correct at the time of writing.
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