What a Will or Trust Costs in Missouri: St. Louis Estate Planning Fees

Revised August 13, 2026

Picture a brick ranch off Gravois in Affton — detached garage, finished basement, a kitchen that has not been touched since the second grandchild was born. The owner is seventy-nine, widowed, still drives herself to the grocery store, and is fairly sure the handwritten page in the desk drawer counts as a will. Her two adult children live in Florissant and Kirkwood. Nobody in the family has ever said the word probate out loud.

One of those children finally asks the question over Sunday dinner — what actually happens to the house? — and the answer is a shrug. So the family starts calling around. The first office quotes a flat fee for a simple will. The second says what they really want is a trust, and the number is roughly four times higher. The third will not put a price on anything until after a consultation. By Wednesday there are three numbers on the refrigerator, no way to compare them, and a growing suspicion that somebody is being sold something.

That is the real problem for most St. Louis families, and it is not the law. It is the pricing. Estate planning is one of the few legal services where the fee is usually quoted up front as a flat number, which means you can comparison shop it the way you shop a roof or a furnace — if you know what the documents are, what each one normally runs in this metro, and what it costs your family if nobody does anything at all. That last number is the one nobody quotes you, and it is the reason trusts get sold. This article is the price list.

First, the honest disclaimer

This is consumer cost information, not legal advice. It is here so you can walk into a consultation knowing roughly what things cost and what questions to ask — nothing more. It does not tell you what you should do with your own estate, because that genuinely depends on facts nobody can see from the outside: what you own, how it is titled, who your family is, and what you are worried about. Missouri law also changes, and the electronic-signing rules in particular have moved recently, so treat every figure here as a starting point and confirm the current rules with a licensed Missouri attorney before you rely on them.

The documents you are actually buying

Nearly every estate plan sold in the St. Louis area is built from the same short list. Knowing the list is most of the battle, because it is how you tell whether two quotes are for the same thing.

• A last will and testament. Instructions for who gets what, and who is in charge. It is a set of directions for the probate court, not a way to skip the probate court.
• A durable power of attorney for finances. Names someone who can pay your bills and manage your accounts if you cannot. This is the document families miss most often, and its absence is what sends people to court for a guardianship or conservatorship.
• A health care directive and durable power of attorney for health care. Names your medical decision-maker and records your wishes about life-sustaining treatment.
• Beneficiary designations and non-probate transfers. Payable-on-death bank accounts, transfer-on-death vehicle titles, retirement accounts, life insurance, and Missouri’s beneficiary deed for real estate. These are cheap, and they move more property than most wills do.
• A revocable living trust, if the plan calls for one. A container you retitle assets into so that at your death they pass by the trust’s terms instead of through probate. It normally comes packaged with a pour-over will, both powers of attorney, and a health care directive.

When one office quotes $900 and another quotes $3,200, they are almost never quoting the same package. Ask each of them to list the documents included, in writing, before you compare the numbers.

What a simple will costs in the St. Louis area

Attorney-drafted wills in this metro are usually flat-fee work. Published pricing and regional cost guides put a straightforward individual will in the range of roughly $500 to $1,200, with the low end covering a bare-bones document and the upper end covering a will-based plan with real drafting attention. At least one St. Louis estate planning firm publishes a will-based plan at about $1,600 for an individual and about $2,500 for a married couple, which is toward the top of the range and includes considerably more than a single document.

Broader Missouri estate planning surveys put a basic plan at roughly $500 to $1,500. Both figures are consistent: a will alone is a several-hundred-dollar purchase, and a will with the supporting documents is a four-figure one.

Which raises the fair question: Do I need a lawyer for a will in Missouri? Legally, no. Missouri does not require an attorney for a will to be valid. Online services and stationery-store forms exist and people use them. What the fee buys you is drafting judgment and a correct signing ceremony — two things that are invisible until the document is challenged, at which point they are the only things that matter.

What a full package costs — will, powers of attorney, health care directive

The package is where most families land, and it is usually the best value on the menu. A will plus a durable financial power of attorney plus health care documents typically runs from the high hundreds into the low thousands, depending on the firm and the complexity.

Some firms price the pieces separately. One published St. Louis schedule lists the powers of attorney and health care documents at about $395 per person on their own. That is a useful benchmark: if a firm quotes you a package and the difference between it and their will-only price is far more than a few hundred dollars per person, ask what else is in there.

Couples almost always pay less than two individuals would pay separately, because the documents mirror each other. The premium for a couple over an individual commonly runs around $700 to $1,100, not double.

What a revocable living trust costs — individual versus couple

This is the number that makes people flinch, and the one that varies most between offices. It is also the point where the underlying question surfaces: Is a will or trust better in Missouri? Cost alone cannot answer that, but cost is where the comparison has to start.

• Individual trust plan: Missouri firms commonly quote roughly $1,850 to $2,800 for a basic probate-avoidance trust package. One published St. Louis area schedule sits at about $2,800 for an individual.
• Married couple, joint trust plan: roughly $2,950 to $4,000 is the common band, with a published St. Louis schedule around $4,000 for a couple.
• Trusts with estate tax planning: roughly $4,800 to $5,000 and up. Very few St. Louis families need this — see the tax section below.
• Broad national and Missouri-wide guidance puts a properly drafted revocable living trust with the pour-over will, powers of attorney, and funding help at $2,500 to $5,000 depending on complexity.

One word in that list does more damage than any other: funding. A trust does nothing until assets are actually retitled into it. Deeds have to be signed and recorded. Bank and brokerage accounts have to be changed over. If a quote does not say in writing whether funding is included, you are not comparing prices — you are comparing one price against an unfinished job. Ask directly: does this fee include preparing and recording the deed, and does it include the letters to my bank and my brokerage?

Hourly rates, and when you will actually see one

Most consumer estate planning in St. Louis is flat-fee, so the hourly rate matters less than you would think when you are buying documents. It matters enormously afterward.

Missouri consumer legal work generally bills in the range of about $175 to $350 an hour, with a midpoint near $263, and St. Louis and Kansas City attorneys tend to sit at the higher end because of overhead. Specialist estate planning firms in the metro publish rates near $395 an hour for work outside their flat-fee packages.

You will see the hourly rate when you amend a trust years later, when you administer a trust after a death, when a probate matter gets contested, or when a family disagreement turns into litigation. That is the reason to ask, at the first meeting, what falls outside the flat fee — and to get the answer in writing.

The number nobody quotes you: what Missouri probate costs

Families almost always arrive at this next question sideways. Do you have to go to probate if you have a will in Missouri? Frequently, yes — and understanding what that costs is the only way to judge whether a trust is worth its price.

Missouri does not leave probate fees to the market. Section 473.153 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri sets a schedule, and the personal representative and the attorney are each entitled to a fee calculated from it:

• 5 percent on the first $5,000
• 4 percent on the next $20,000
• 3 percent on the next $75,000
• 2.75 percent on the next $300,000
• 2.5 percent on the next $600,000
• 2 percent on everything over $1,000,000

Two things about that schedule matter more than the percentages themselves.

First, it is a minimum, not a cap. The statute expressly allows the court to award additional compensation where the work justifies it. Second, it runs twice — once for the attorney and once for the personal representative, who is often a family member and who may or may not waive the fee.

Run the math on a $100,000 probate estate and the statutory figure comes to $3,300 for the attorney, and the same again for the personal representative. On a $300,000 estate it is $8,800 each. That is where the trust pitch comes from, and on those numbers it is not an unreasonable pitch.

But read the base carefully, because this is where a lot of marketing gets sloppy. The percentages apply to the value of the personal property administered plus the proceeds of any real estate sold under the probate court’s order. A house that passes by beneficiary deed is not in that base. Neither is a payable-on-death account. The Affton house in the opening is only a probate number if nothing was done to move it out of probate — and moving it out is not expensive, which is the next section.

How long Missouri probate actually takes

Cost is only half of it. Time is the other half, and the floor is set by statute, not by how motivated your family is.

Missouri gives creditors six months from the personal representative’s appointment to file claims against the estate. That window cannot be shortened, waived, or hurried. Six months is therefore the practical minimum for a supervised estate no matter how simple it is.

In practice, a straightforward estate with cooperative heirs and no disputes tends to close in six to twelve months. Add contested real estate, a serious creditor claim, or a family fight, and two years or more is entirely normal. During that stretch the house generally cannot be sold without the court’s involvement, and it still needs insurance, utilities, and a lawn service.

There are out-of-pocket costs too: the court filing deposit to open the estate, the newspaper publication of notice to creditors (in St. Louis County, publication is paid directly to the publisher rather than collected by the court), possible surety bond premiums where the will does not waive the bond, appraisal fees, and recording fees. Individually these are small next to the statutory fee. Together they are not nothing. Call the probate division — in St. Louis County it sits in Clayton — for the current filing figures rather than trusting any number you read online, including this article.

The Missouri beneficiary deed: cheap, specific, and widely overlooked

Missouri allows something a lot of states do not, and for a family whose main asset is a house it is often the single highest-value thing on the menu. Under section 461.025, you can record a beneficiary deed that transfers your real estate to a named person at your death, without probate.

The requirements are narrow and unforgiving:

• The deed must expressly state that it does not take effect until the owner’s death.
• It must name the beneficiary and describe the property by legal description.
• It must be signed before a notary.
• It must be recorded with the recorder of deeds in the county where the property sits — before the owner dies. An unrecorded beneficiary deed is worth nothing. This is the mistake that shows up over and over.

What you keep is control. Missouri law is explicit that the beneficiary has no rights in the property while you are alive, and does not have to sign anything. You can sell the house, mortgage it, or change your mind. Under section 461.033 a beneficiary designation may be revoked or changed during the owner’s lifetime — though where there are joint owners, a change requires the agreement of all living owners.

One trap deserves its own sentence, because it undoes more plans than any other: your will does not override a beneficiary designation. Missouri law provides that a will cannot revoke or change a beneficiary designation unless the designation itself expressly says a will can. If your beneficiary deed, your payable-on-death account, or your old life insurance policy names an ex-spouse, the will you sign next week does not fix it. The designation wins.

As for price, a published St. Louis fee schedule lists a beneficiary deed at about $395 per deed, plus the county recording fee. Set that next to an $8,800 statutory probate fee and you can see why this document is worth asking about by name.

Small estates: when Missouri lets you skip the full process

Missouri also has a short path for modest estates. Under section 473.097, when the estate is worth $40,000 or less — excluding liens, debts, and encumbrances — a distributee can generally use a small estate affidavit to collect and distribute the property without a full administration. A distributee can typically file after thirty days have passed since the death. There is also a separate procedure, a refusal of letters, that applies in certain situations involving a surviving spouse or minor children.

Two practical cautions. The $40,000 threshold is a real ceiling, and a paid-off house in Webster Groves or a retirement account blows through it instantly. And several urban Missouri counties — St. Louis City and St. Louis County among them — in practice expect an attorney to be involved even in small estate filings, so the do-it-yourself savings can be smaller than advertised.

What makes a will valid in Missouri

Worth knowing before you pay anyone, and worth knowing before you trust the page in the desk drawer.

• You must be eighteen or an emancipated minor, and of sound mind.
• The will must be in writing.
• It must be signed by you, or by another person at your direction and in your presence.
• It must be attested by two or more competent witnesses who sign their names in your presence.

Missouri does not recognize holographic wills — a will you wrote out entirely in your own handwriting, with no witnesses, does not qualify. That handwritten page in the Affton desk drawer is, under Missouri law, most likely not a will at all.

That leads straight to the question people ask at the signing table. Does a will in Missouri need to be notarized? Not for validity. Missouri requires witnesses, not a notary. But a notary is what makes a will self-proved under section 474.337 — you, your witnesses, and a notary sign a short affidavit, and the court can then admit the will without hunting down witnesses years later to testify about a signing they barely remember. It costs almost nothing at the signing table and saves real trouble afterward, which is why most attorney-drafted Missouri wills include one.

Missouri has also modernized. The Missouri Electronic Wills and Electronic Estate Planning Documents Act, at sections 474.540 through 474.564, applies to people who die on or after August 28, 2025, and to estate planning documents signed or witnessed remotely on or after that date. Electronic signatures, remote witnessing, and online notarization are now on the table for many estate planning documents. This is exactly the sort of thing that shifts, so ask whether the firm you hire is set up for it and what they recommend.

Taxes: the part most St. Louis families can stop worrying about

Missouri has no state estate tax and no state inheritance tax. The state takes nothing from an inheritance.

Federal estate tax applies only above the federal exemption, which is $15 million per person in 2026 — $30 million for a married couple — and is indexed for inflation going forward. The overwhelming majority of estates in this metro are nowhere near that line.

This matters commercially. If someone is selling you a complex plan on the strength of estate tax savings and your estate is a house, a 401(k), and some savings, ask them to show you the tax math. Income tax on inherited retirement accounts is a separate and much more common issue, and a different conversation.

A word about the Illinois side

Everything above is Missouri law. If you live in Belleville, Edwardsville, O’Fallon, or anywhere else on the Metro East side, or if you own a cabin or rental property across the river, different rules apply to that property — including a state estate tax that Missouri does not have. Owning real estate in two states is one of the classic fact patterns where a trust genuinely earns its fee, because it can avoid opening a separate probate in each state. Say so out loud at the consultation.

Questions to ask before you hire anyone

Take this list to the meeting. The answers, more than the price, will tell you what you are buying.

• Is this a flat fee, and what exactly does it include? Ask for the document list in writing.
• Does the fee include funding the trust — preparing and recording deeds, and the letters to banks and brokerages?
• What is not covered, and what is your hourly rate when we go outside the package?
• Who will actually draft my documents, and who will be at the signing?
• Given what I own, would a beneficiary deed and payable-on-death designations accomplish most of this for less?
• What will it cost to amend this in five years?
• Will you review my existing beneficiary designations against the new plan?
• Do you handle the probate or trust administration afterward, and what does that cost?

That fifth question is the one that separates a counselor from a salesperson. A good answer engages with your facts. A bad answer changes the subject.

Where plans quietly fail

The expensive failures in estate planning are rarely bad documents. They are good documents that nobody finished.

• The unfunded trust. Paid for, signed, beautifully bound, and empty, because the house was never deeded into it. The estate goes through probate anyway, and the family paid twice.
• The stale beneficiary designation. An ex-spouse still named on a policy or an account. The designation controls, not the will.
• The unrecorded beneficiary deed. Signed, notarized, and left in a drawer. Under Missouri law it had to be recorded before death. It was not.
• The missing financial power of attorney. A parent develops dementia, no one can legally act, and the family ends up in a court proceeding that costs more than the whole plan would have.
• The document nobody can find. The original will matters. Tell the person you named as executor where it is.

None of those are fixed by spending more. They are fixed by finishing.

More St. Louis guides

• How to find the right lawyer in St. Louis — how to vet any attorney, in any practice area, before you sign an engagement letter.
• Finding legal services for seniors near me — including the free and income-qualified legal help available to older adults in eastern Missouri.
• How to choose a financial advisor in St. Louis — the beneficiary designations on your accounts are a financial question as much as a legal one.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a living trust cost in Missouri?

Published Missouri and St. Louis area pricing generally puts a revocable living trust package at roughly $1,850 to $2,800 for an individual and roughly $2,950 to $4,000 for a married couple, with plans that add estate tax planning running to about $5,000 and up. Those figures normally include the trust document, a pour-over will, both powers of attorney, and a health care directive. Ask specifically whether funding — retitling accounts and recording the deed — is included or billed separately, because that is where two quotes stop being comparable.

Do I need a lawyer for a will in Missouri?

No. Missouri law does not require an attorney for a will to be valid. It requires that the will be in writing, signed by you or by someone at your direction and in your presence, and attested by two or more competent witnesses who sign in your presence. What an attorney fee buys is drafting judgment and a correct signing, plus a check that your will does not conflict with the beneficiary designations already on your accounts — which is the most common way a homemade plan goes wrong.

Does a will in Missouri need to be notarized?

Not to be valid. Missouri requires two witnesses, not a notary. A notary is what makes a will self-proved under section 474.337, meaning the court can admit it without calling the witnesses to testify later. It adds almost nothing to the cost at the signing and removes a real obstacle for your family afterward, which is why most attorney-drafted Missouri wills include a self-proving affidavit.

Is a will or trust better in Missouri?

Neither is better in the abstract — they do different jobs, and Missouri’s inexpensive non-probate tools change the math. A will gives instructions for probate; a revocable living trust is mainly a way to avoid probate, at a higher up-front cost. In Missouri, a family whose estate is one house and a few accounts can often keep nearly everything out of probate with a recorded beneficiary deed and payable-on-death designations for a fraction of a trust’s price. Families with real estate in more than one state, a blended family, a beneficiary who cannot manage money, or a business interest are the ones who tend to get genuine value from a trust. Put your actual asset list in front of an attorney and ask.

Do you have to go to probate if you have a will in Missouri?

Often, yes — a will is a set of instructions for probate, not a way around it. What determines probate is how an asset is titled. Property with a living joint owner or a valid beneficiary designation passes outside probate: payable-on-death accounts, transfer-on-death vehicle titles, a recorded beneficiary deed, life insurance, and most retirement accounts. Whatever remains in the deceased person’s sole name with no beneficiary named is what the will governs, and that is what goes through the probate division. Estates of $40,000 or less may qualify for a small estate affidavit instead.

How much can you inherit in Missouri without paying taxes?

Missouri has no state inheritance tax and no state estate tax, so the state itself takes nothing from an inheritance. Federal estate tax applies only above the federal exemption, which is $15 million per person in 2026 and $30 million for a married couple, indexed for inflation going forward. That leaves the overwhelming majority of St. Louis area estates untaxed at both levels. Income tax is a separate question — an inherited traditional retirement account, for example, is generally taxable to whoever withdraws the money.

Before you spend anything

Write down what you own and how each piece is titled. Pull up the beneficiary named on every account and policy. Then call two or three attorneys and ask each for a written list of documents and a flat fee. Half the time the family in Affton discovers that what they actually needed was a beneficiary deed, a financial power of attorney, and an afternoon of paperwork — and the other half of the time they learn exactly why their situation calls for more, from someone who can point to the specific fact that makes it so.

Either way, they walk in with numbers instead of a shrug.

General cost information only, not legal advice, and not a substitute for talking with a licensed Missouri attorney about your own situation. Fees vary by firm and by complexity, court costs vary by county, and Missouri law changes — the electronic wills and remote signing rules have changed recently. Confirm anything you plan to rely on. St Louis Near Me Directory does not endorse or recommend any individual attorney or firm.

About the Author: The St Louis Near Me Directory Team
Written by a dedicated team of St. Louis locals who live, work, and play right here in the St. Louis metro. Founder Lane Forman and team are committed to building the region’s most trusted directory by verifying listings and connecting local businesses with loyal customers across Missouri and Illinois.

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