How Much Does a Will Cost in Virginia?

By The Estate Planning Guide Editorial Team Researched against primary sources

Published June 11, 2026 Updated September 23, 2026 6 min read

Quick answer

No Virginia law sets what a will costs, and we found no published source for Virginia will-drafting prices as of September 2026 that is not a law firm, an online document seller, or a site paid to refer customers to one. What Virginia law does set is below. Virginia recognizes handwritten (holographic) wills. A will directs an estate through probate rather than avoiding it. It directs your estate through Virginia probate; it doesn't skip it. If avoiding probate is the goal, that's a living-trust question.

⚠️ Educational information only — not legal, tax, or financial advice.

The figures on this page are the ones a statute or a named, dated publisher sets. Laws, fees, thresholds, and prices differ by state and change often, and your own situation may change the result. Before you act, confirm the current numbers and rules for Virginia with a licensed professional — an attorney, tax advisor, or licensed agent as appropriate. Reading this page does not create a professional relationship.

What a will costs in Virginia

We found no published source for this figure as of September 2026. The Virginia will prices that are published come from law firms, online document sellers, or sites paid to refer customers to them. None is an independent publisher, so none is cited here.

No Virginia statute sets what a will costs to draft. Virginia law sets how a will must be executed to be valid, and what the court charges to probate it — neither fixes a drafting fee.

What the court charges

The deadline the fee buys into

What makes a will valid in Virginia

A typed (non-holographic) Virginia will must be signed or acknowledged by the testator in the presence of at least two competent witnesses who are present at the same time and who subscribe the will in the testator's presence (Va. Code Ann. §64.2-403).

EPTL §3-2.1(a)(1)(C) provides that a person who signs the testator’s name for the testator must sign their own name and affix their address, and is not counted as one of the necessary attesting witnesses.

Can you write your own will by hand in Virginia?

Virginia recognizes holographic (handwritten) wills under Va. Code Ann. §64.2-403(B) — a will wholly in the testator's handwriting and signed by the testator is valid without witnesses at signing, but the handwriting and signature must later be proved by at least two disinterested witnesses. They're legal but harder to probate than a witnessed will.

EPTL §3-2.2(a)(2) defines a holographic will as one written entirely in the testator’s handwriting and not executed and attested under the §3-2.1 formalities.

The self-proving affidavit

Virginia allows a self-proving will via affidavits of the testator and witnesses before a notary under Va. Code Ann. §64.2-452, which generally eliminates the need for a witness to appear when the will is probated. A self-proving affidavit isn't required. Where one is used, it lets the court admit the will without testimony from the subscribing witnesses.

Without it, the attesting witnesses may be called to testify to the execution when the will is offered for probate. SCPA §1406(1) is what removes that step, by letting the court accept their sworn affidavit instead.

What a will does not do in Virginia

A will directs an estate through probate; it does not remove assets from it. A will tells the Virginia probate court who receives what and who administers the estate. Property governed by the will still passes through probate — the court-supervised, public process.

The cost of the document and the cost of probate are therefore separate figures. For what probate itself costs in Virginia, see How Much Does Probate Cost in Virginia?.

What passes outside probate in Virginia

Assets transfer outside probate only by operation of law or contract, regardless of what a will says. The recognised mechanisms are:

Beneficiary designations — retirement accounts, life insurance, and payable-on-death accounts pass to the named beneficiary.
Joint ownership with right of survivorship — passes to the surviving owner.
Transfer-on-death instruments, where Virginia authorises them.
Assets titled into a funded living trust.

A will has no effect on any asset transferred by these routes. For the Virginia figures on the trust alternative, see How Much Does a Living Trust Cost in Virginia?, and for the documented differences between the two instruments, Will vs. Trust: How They Differ.

What affects the price in Virginia

We found no published source for Virginia will-drafting prices as of September 2026, so this page states no range and no price drivers. The prices on this page that are fixed by law are the court’s, above, with the statute that fixes them cited there.

What the record shows

Item	Virginia
Price of a will	Not set by law; no independent published source found as of September 2026
Governing statutes	Va. Code Ann. §64.2-403 (execution of wills; requirements); Va. Code Ann. §64.2-452 (how will may be made self-proved)
State authority	Code of Virginia (law.lis.virginia.gov)

A will directs an estate through probate and does not remove assets from it. Execution requirements, the treatment of handwritten wills, the self-proving affidavit, the court’s own fee schedule and the claim period are set out above with their statutory citations. No figure is published here for what a will costs to draft: we found no independent published source as of September 2026.

Will costs in other states

Compare Virginia with what a will costs in other states:

How to Write a Will (and What Makes It Valid) — the full step-by-step.
Do I Need a Will? — what happens under intestacy when there is none.
How Much Does a Will Cost with a Lawyer? — the national cost picture.
How Much Does Probate Cost in Virginia? — the separate cost of probate itself.
How Much Does a Living Trust Cost in Virginia? — the instrument that holds assets outside probate.

This page sets out what Virginia law fixes about making a will and probating it, as of September 2026. It is not legal advice; statutes and figures change and depend on your situation. Confirm current rules with a licensed Virginia attorney. It states no drafting price, because we found no independent published source for one. Sources: Code of Virginia (law.lis.virginia.gov); Va. Code Ann. §64.2-403 (execution of wills; requirements), Va. Code Ann. §64.2-452 (how will may be made self-proved).

Related guides

What Happens If You Die Without a Will by State

Do I Need a Will? What a Will Does and What Intestacy Does

How Much Does a Will Cost with a Lawyer?