Originally published: September 26, 2019 | Last updated: February 26, 2026
TL;DR: You do not need a lawyer to write a Will. Every US state allows you to prepare your own. Online services like USLegalWills.com ($49.95) produce a document word-for-word identical to a lawyer-prepared Will ($500–$1,000+). The 10 key advantages: it is affordable, convenient, educational, flexible on timing, easy to update, allows thorough distribution planning, lets you choose your own Executor, provides extra digital tools, allows you to change your mind, and most importantly – you will actually get it done.
You do not need a lawyer to write a Will. A lawyer, or estate planning attorney, is trained in the law. If you have doubts about a particular situation and need a legal opinion, you should speak to a lawyer. But most people who write a Will do not need to consult a legal professional.
A Last Will and Testament which leaves all property to your spouse becomes a standard document because it automatically distributes your assets to your children when you and your spouse die in the same accident. There is no legal nuance, and you would not need legal advice. Even adding a trust for a minor child and naming a guardian is still a simple Will. There is no reason to pay $500 or more for this type of document.
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Can You Write Your Own Will?
Yes. Everybody has the right to prepare their Will. There is no legal requirement to use a lawyer, estate planning attorney, or notary. You can in theory write your Will on the back of a napkin and it would be a perfectly legal Last Will and Testament.
To be legal, a Will simply has to be:
- Written (typed or handwritten)
- Signed by you
- Signed in the presence of two witnesses (for typed Wills)
Someone who writes their entire Will by hand creates what is known as a holographic Will. The document possesses a unique quality because it does not demand any form of witness confirmation. Most states (but not all) accept a holographic Will signed without witnesses. However, handwriting your own Will is not recommended unless you find yourself in a desperate situation.
Is It Legal to Write Your Own Will?
Yes. Every state has its own laws describing the requirements for a legal Last Will and Testament, found in their respective Probate Codes (e.g., the California Probate Code, the Texas Probate Code).These laws maintain consistent patterns which appear in various state jurisdictions. A legal Will requires two adult witnesses to watch you sign the document which must exist as written text and these witnesses must not receive any benefits from the Will.
All states allow you to write your own Will. No legal statute in any state requires you to use a lawyer or attorney.
What Is a Holographic Will?
A holographic Will is a document written entirely in your own handwriting. It does not require witnesses – it can be simply signed and it is accepted by the courts. The law allows this to address desperate situations where witnesses are unavailable.
The following states recognize holographic Wills: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
Important: Writing your own Will does not mean preparing a holographic Will. When you write a Will using USLegalWills.com, you are producing a standard typed Will signed in the presence of two witnesses – accepted in all US states. For more details, see our article on holographic Wills.
How Can You Write Your Own Will?
You have three different options to choose from which present their own set of benefits and drawbacks:
| Method | Cost | Quality | Convenience |
|---|---|---|---|
| Handwrite / blank-form kit | $0–$5 | Poor | Immediate |
| Estate planning attorney | $500–$1,000+ | High | Low |
| Online Will service | $49.95–$100 | High | High |
Option 1: Handwrite Your Will or Use a Blank-Form Kit
You could literally handwrite a Will on a blank piece of paper. Most lawyers today use software to create Wills because they understand writing a good document from scratch is challenging. The advantage is it costs nothing, but it could cost your family a fortune if you make errors.
Blank-form kits attempt to add structure but often have so much blank space that they are nearly impossible to complete correctly. They are rarely state-specific, not usually kept up to date, and leave too much to the user.
Option 2: Write Your Will with a Lawyer
An estate planning attorney provides legal advice and tax planning guidance. This is valuable if you have a child with special needs, doubts about the legal implications of your plan, or a complex estate. However, lawyers typically charge upwards of $800 for a simple Will and the process is inconvenient – requiring multiple office visits, time off work, and potentially childcare arrangements.
Option 3: Use an Online Interactive Service
Online Will writing services allow you to obtain a professional document at the same cost as a Will kit. USLegalWills.com functions as a service which leads you through every stage while detecting mistakes and creating your complete legal Will from your answers. They now support charitable bequests, pet trusts, minor trusts, lifetime interest trusts, and even overseas assets.
Can I Write My Own Will for Free?
You can write a Last Will and Testament for free, but it is very difficult to write a well-drafted, quality Will at no cost.
Free Will services operate by one of three methods:
- The final document is inadequate – not prepared by lawyers, not kept up to date, and likely unenforceable
- The service claims to be free but charges add-on services or monthly subscriptions
- The service sells your personal information to third parties like insurance companies
The service at USLegalWills.com costs $49.95. This covers the legal team, customer support, software development, and marketing costs. If a service charges nothing, no one is backing up the quality. For a detailed analysis, see our article on why free Will templates are not all they seem.
Can I Use a Will Template to Write My Own Will?
No two situations are the same. The software at USLegalWills.com has hundreds of different permutations of Wills it can create. Blank-form templates are usually created for one specific state and then differentiate between single, married, and married with children – but they cannot account for adult vs. minor children, pet trusts, charitable bequests, lifetime interest trusts for blended families, and dozens of other variables.
By using a blank template, you will not know what your Will is missing. Interactive software generates a more complete and dependable outcome than traditional methods.
Ten Reasons Why Writing Your Own Will Makes Sense
1. Writing Your Own Will Is Affordable
The price of using an online interactive service for Will creation will save you about 90 to 95 percent of the cost compared to what you would pay an estate planning attorney. The prices for attorney services to write Wills begin at $500 and they can reach above $1,000 when you add trust establishment costs. The cost at USLegalWills.com is $49.95 – no sliding scale, no increased costs for multiple bequests, guardianship, pet trusts, lifetime interest trusts, or charitable bequests. Free services deliver documents which match lawyer-created documents because we operate with the same software system.
2. Preparing Your Own Will Is Convenient
The main reason people choose USLegalWills.com stems from its convenient services. The process of writing a Will through a lawyer needs you to take time off from your job while you handle spouse coordination and childcare arrangements and you must visit the attorney for meetings about important decisions and subsequent appointments for document review and signature. Writing your Will becomes possible through online services which let you finish the task in twenty minutes while you relax with your partner on the couch holding an iPad.
3. Writing Your Own Will Teaches You About Estate Planning
USLegalWills.com provides users with the ability to discover their Will contents and all the necessary legal sections which exist in their Last Will and Testament. The help text along with plain language and customer support functions will help you create a document which you understand instead of receiving something which someone made without your understanding.
4. Making Your Own Will Allows You to Give It Thought
The Will writing service asks users to answer questions about their potential decisions for charitable donations and pet maintenance and backup beneficiaries and alternate Executor choices. The USLegalWills.com platform lets users complete their tasks within 20 minutes but it does not require them to finish their work at a fast pace. Users can save their work progress to continue editing their documents when they return to the platform the next day. The experience of meeting with an attorney tends to create pressure for clients to finish their work during a single session. The process of creating your own Will lets you take all the time you need to develop your document.
5. Updating Your Will Is Much Easier
People used to avoid registering their Wills because they needed to pay high fees and deal with complicated procedures which forced them to wait for an ideal time to create their documents that never came. People face ongoing changes throughout their lives because of life events which include marriage and having children and when the Executor becomes sick and when guardians decide to move abroad and when someone in the family receives an unexpected inheritance. People need to make changes to their Wills because they tend to occur after the original document receives its first signature. An online service lets you change your Will in five minutes after you log in and make your changes before printing the updated document. A lawyer would charge you $500 to make an Executor appointment change.
6. You Can Be More Thorough in Your Distribution Plan
Your Last Will and Testament functions as a tool which lets you create new opportunities for people. You can leave charitable bequests , leave legacies to loved ones, and direct prized possessions to people who will actually appreciate them. You can leave $10,000 to your church, $5,000 to your niece for education, your guitar to your grandson, or your signed baseball card to the person who will treasure it. An official state formula determines how property gets distributed when people die without making a Will but the property becomes available for purchase through auctions which outside individuals can participate in.
7. Write Your Own Will and Make Your Own Appointments
Many estate planning attorneys write Wills at a discounted rate to win the more lucrative part: administering your estate. A professional Executor charges an hourly rate on top of a percentage of your estate. The process of transferring a $500,000 home property would require your beneficiaries to pay about $20,000 in Executor fees because it would take them half a day to complete the task.
The best approach involves selecting a family member or friend to serve as your Executor who should obtain professional assistance through hourly payments instead of surrendering a percentage of your entire estate. When you write your own Will, you choose whoever you wish.
8. Using an Online Service Gives You More Features
Online Will services have expanded far beyond simple document preparation. At USLegalWills.com, complementary services include:
- MyVault – Users can upload their vital documents which their family members will access after death.
- MyMessages – Users create automated messages which get sent to recipients following their death.
- MyLifeLocker – Users can track their assets through this system which their Executor can access.
- MyKeyholder – ensures the right information reaches the right people at the right time
You need to create your Will as the first essential step because your assets require a proper path to reach your beneficiaries. These tools enable your Executor to fulfill their responsibility. An estate planning attorney will not provide these services.
9. You Can Change Your Mind
People who use USLegalWills.com login to their accounts an average of 2.4 times per year. People need to create their Will at least once during their lifetime. People put their Will on paper but they decide to change their minds which means their last wishes become different from what they originally wanted. The online service lets you change your distribution plan after you log in and then you can print the updated Will within minutes.
10. If You Write Your Own Will – You Will Actually Get It Done
A USLegalWills.com survey revealed that only 28% of American adults have an up-to-date Will. Only half of Americans over 65 have a current Will – and that age category fared better than every other group.
Why don’t people write their Will? The process has traditionally been inconvenient and expensive. People wait because they only want to do it once, and once done, they are reluctant to make changes. With an online service, the barriers disappear:
- Takes 20 minutes
- Works on iPad, computer, or smartphone
- Costs $49.95 ($79.95 for a couple’s package)
- Easy to update at any time
For more on this topic, see our article on how many Americans lack Wills.
Related Articles
- Last Will and Testament – What It Is, When You Need It, How to Write It
- How Much Does a Will Cost? And Why?
- How to Write a Will: Your 10 Step Guide to Success
- The Six Most Common Errors in a DIY Will
- 10 Ridiculous Warnings Lawyers Give About Online Will Services
- Making a Will: 5 Reasons to Not Procrastinate
He has over 20 years of experience helping people to write their Will and other estate planning documents. He has been interviewed by many of the major news media outlets, and has contributed to articles in The New York Times, NY Metro Parents, U.S. News & World Report, and other leading publications. He has also contributed to a number of financial planning books.
Throughout his career, Tim has written extensively on the subject of Will writing and estate planning.
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