Estate Planning Cost Calculator
Last updated: November 5, 2026
Estimate estate-planning legal costs for wills, trusts, powers of attorney, document preparation and related professional work.
Starting figures illustrate this model. Enter your own measurements, quoted costs and applicable terms; this page does not retrieve live prices or provider rates.
Estimated total legal-service cost
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- Estimated hourly legal work: —
- Professional and filing costs: —
- Estimated legal fee before external costs: —
- Estimated cost above the flat or minimum fee: —
On this page
Quick summary: Estimate estate-planning legal costs for wills, trusts, powers of attorney, document preparation and related professional work.
Read the complete guide
Updated reference sections in this guide are in English.
What this calculator estimates
Estimate estate-planning legal costs for wills, trusts, powers of attorney, document preparation and related professional work.
How to use it
Enter Estimated attorney hours; Attorney hourly rate ($); Flat, package or minimum legal fee ($); Court, filing and government fees ($); Expert, translation or professional fees ($); Other case-related costs ($). Select Calculate to update the results.
How the calculation works
The calculator multiplies expected attorney hours by the entered hourly rate, compares that amount with any flat or minimum fee, and then adds filing, expert and other costs.
Worked example: starting scenario
| Estimated attorney hours | 12 |
|---|---|
| Attorney hourly rate ($) | 375 |
| Flat, package or minimum legal fee ($) | 3500 |
| Court, filing and government fees ($) | 150 |
| Expert, translation or professional fees ($) | 700 |
| Other case-related costs ($) | 250 |
| Estimated total legal-service cost | $5,600.00 |
|---|---|
| Estimated hourly legal work | $4,500.00 |
| Professional and filing costs | $1,100.00 |
| Estimated legal fee before external costs | $4,500.00 |
| Estimated cost above the flat or minimum fee | $2,100.00 |
Important limitations
Legal fees vary widely by state, attorney, complexity, urgency, hearings, negotiations, appeals and outcome. This is a budgeting estimate, not a fee quote or legal advice.
How a flat or minimum fee is handled
The legal fee is max(estimated hours × hourly rate, entered flat/minimum fee). External charges are then added. This is a minimum-fee model, not a selector between two independent quotes: entering both a complete hourly quote and a separate alternative fixed quote will intentionally use the larger amount.
For 10 hours at $200 with a $1,500 minimum and $300 of external charges, the total is $2,300. If the minimum rises to $2,500 with the same work, the total becomes $2,800. A retainer credited against billed work should not also be entered as a new external expense.
Check which documents, asset transfers and follow-up revisions are included in a flat quote. A document package is different from hourly administration after a death, and the same drafting work should not be included twice.