Do you need a lawyer to write a will?

No, you do not need a lawyer to write a will. In every state, an adult of sound mind can make a valid will without one, as long as the document meets that state's requirements and is signed correctly. Courts admit self-prepared and online-prepared wills to probate routinely.

The better question is whether you should hire one. For a straightforward household (one state, ordinary assets, a clear idea of who gets what), doing it yourself with a good guided service is a reasonable choice, and it is far better than the alternative most people pick, which is doing nothing. For a complicated one (a business, a blended family, a child with special needs, property in several states, a likely dispute), an attorney is worth the fee.

What the law actually requires

Wills are governed by state law, so the details differ, but the basic pattern is similar almost everywhere:

• You must be an adult under your state's rule and of sound mind, meaning you understand what you own and who your family is.
• The will must be in writing. A few states recognize handwritten wills in narrow circumstances, and some recognize wills signed electronically, but the rules are narrow and vary.
• You must sign it, or direct someone to sign for you in your presence if you physically cannot.
• Witnesses must sign, in the manner and number your state requires. The number of witnesses, whether they must watch you sign, and who is disqualified from serving all vary by state.
• Notarization is often not required to make the will valid, but many states allow a self-proving affidavit, signed before a notary, which makes probate simpler later.

Because those requirements genuinely differ, we do not print a single national checklist. Our state estate planning guides set out what your state expects, and the signing guide gives step-by-step instructions for the state you live in.

Where do-it-yourself wills actually go wrong

In our experience, failures almost never come from fancy legal wording. They come from five ordinary mistakes.

1. Signing it wrong

This is the big one. A perfectly worded will that was signed without the right witnesses, or witnessed by someone your state disqualifies, can be challenged or rejected. Using a beneficiary as a witness is a classic error. Read the signing instructions twice and follow them literally, and see how to sign and witness your will.

2. Forgetting the residue

People carefully list the house, the car and the jewelry, then leave no instruction for "everything else." Everything else is usually most of the estate. Your will needs a residuary clause.

3. Assuming the will controls everything

It does not. Retirement accounts, life insurance and payable-on-death bank accounts pass by beneficiary form, and jointly titled property passes by title. Those beat your will. We wrote a whole article about it: the beneficiary form that overrides your will.

4. Naming people who cannot or will not serve

An 82-year-old executor and no backup. A guardian who lives four states away and was never asked. Always name alternates, and always have the conversation first.

5. Never updating it

A will that names an ex-spouse, a deceased sibling, or a child who has since been born to the family is worse than useless. See when to update your estate plan.

Notice that a lawyer protects you against most of these, but so does a well-built guided process that asks the right questions and gives you state-correct signing instructions.

When you should hire an attorney

Pay for real legal advice if any of these describe you.

• A blended family. Children from a previous relationship plus a current spouse is the single most common source of estate litigation. The trade-offs are genuinely hard and deserve a human.
• A child or adult dependent with a disability. An outright inheritance can disqualify someone from needs-based benefits. This requires specific planning, done carefully.
• A business you own or co-own. Succession, buy-sell agreements and valuation are not do-it-yourself territory.
• Property in more than one state, or outside the country. Multiple jurisdictions mean multiple sets of rules.
• A likely dispute. If you are disinheriting a child, or you expect someone to claim you were pressured, an attorney can build a record that helps the will survive a challenge.
• A very large estate. Most families are far from the federal threshold, but some are not.
• Doubt about capacity. If the person making the will is elderly and in declining health, an attorney's involvement is protective.

Our longer piece on when to hire an estate planning attorney has more detail on each of these.

When doing it yourself is genuinely fine

Meet Priya. She is 34, single, rents an apartment, has a 401(k) with her sister named as beneficiary, about $12,000 in savings, and a cat she cares about very much. She wants her savings and belongings to go to her sister, her cat to go to her best friend, and a small gift to go to a shelter.

There is no legal complexity here. What Priya needs is a clear will, a named executor, correct witnesses, and a financial and healthcare power of attorney so someone can act if she is hospitalized. Paying $900 for that is not wrong, but it is not necessary either.

Or take Marcus and Dee, married, two kids under ten, one house, ordinary jobs, everything in one state. Their hardest decision is who would raise the children, and no lawyer can make that call for them. What they need is a will each that nominates the same guardian, a plan for how money is held until the kids are grown, and powers of attorney.

That is the shape of most American households.

What an online service is, and what it is not

Estateur is a self-help document preparation service. We are not a law firm, and using Estateur does not create an attorney-client relationship. We cannot tell you what to do in your particular situation, and nothing on this site is legal advice.

What we do is different but still useful. We ask a structured set of questions, build documents from a rule set crafted for your specific state, run automated checks on what comes out, and hand you signing instructions written for where you live. The Will Package is $99 for an individual and $149 for a couple. The Power of Attorney Package is $79 and $119. You can see everything on our pricing page.

We also think it is fair to say what we are not good at. We do not sit across a table from you and notice that the way you described your brother suggests a fight coming. A good attorney does. If your instinct while reading this was "my situation is complicated," trust that instinct.

A middle path nobody mentions

You do not have to choose one or the other for your whole life.

Plenty of people make an online will in their thirties because they have a new baby and nothing else complicated, and then hire an attorney in their fifties when they own a business and a second property. Having something in place now is better than having something perfect in five years. Estate plans are meant to be revised.

If you go the online route and later want an attorney to look at it, take the printed documents with you. A lawyer reviewing a finished draft usually costs far less than starting from scratch.

What about the federal estate tax?

People sometimes hire a lawyer purely out of tax worry. For 2026, the estate and gift tax applicable exclusion is $15,000,000 per person and $30,000,000 per married couple, the generation-skipping transfer tax exemption is $15,000,000, and the top rate is 40%, under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Pub. L. 119-21) and IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32. The annual gift tax exclusion is $19,000 per recipient. The vast majority of families owe no federal estate tax whatsoever. Some states have their own estate or inheritance taxes with much lower thresholds, which is a good reason to check your state's rules.

The bottom line

The law does not require a lawyer. Your situation might. Be honest about which one you are, and then actually finish the document, because an unfinished plan helps nobody.

If you want a recommendation based on your own facts, take the three-minute quiz. If you already know what you need, you can get started here.