Clear Money Guide
What this guide covers
A quick view of the questions and evidence developed below.
Updated August 1, 2026. Quick answer: you can very often get this one for nothing. An advance directive — a living will plus a health-care proxy — is the estate document least worth paying for on its own: most states publish their own statutory form, hospitals routinely provide one free on admission, and every major DIY platform includes it inside a will package rather than charging separately. Trust & Will’s $199 Will Plan includes a living will; LegalZoom’s $149 Pro Will includes a healthcare directive. An attorney will draft one, but paying a few hundred dollars for a document your state gives away needs a reason.
What it costs, by route
- Your state’s own form — commonly free. Most states publish a statutory advance-directive form through a health department, attorney general or courts site. Hospitals and hospices also supply them at no charge, and a hospital will typically offer one at admission.
- Bundled into a platform plan — no separate charge. Trust & Will Will Plan $199 individual / $299 couple; LegalZoom Pro Will $149 / $249 couple. Both include the directive as part of the package rather than as an add-on (published prices, verified July 23, 2026; Trust & Will re-checked August 1, 2026).
- Attorney-drafted — usually inside a package. Standalone directive pricing is rarely published, because attorneys generally include it in the will package, which has a median of $1,000 with the middle half of firms charging $750–$1,500 (LegalTemplates 2026 study of 909 firms, read at the source August 12, 2026 (319 of them priced a package)).
If the free state form does not fit your case
As the page says, most people can use their state’s statutory form at no cost, and should. Where a directive needs to say more than that form allows, LawDepot builds a living will and medical power of attorney as a single document, executed under your own state’s rules.
LawDepot pays us a commission if you buy through this link — it costs you nothing extra. We are not a law firm and this is not legal advice. Affiliate Disclosure.
Why we are telling you the free option first
Because the pages competing for this question mostly do not. A living will is a statutory form in most states, and the value of paying a professional is in the surrounding conversation — what you actually want, and whether your family knows it — not in the drafting. If your wishes are straightforward, the state form executed properly does the job.
Pay for help when the situation is not straightforward: a condition with a foreseeable trajectory, a family that disagrees, a proxy who lives in another state, or religious directions you want followed precisely. Those are drafting problems, and they are worth an attorney’s time.
Execution is where free forms go wrong
The form costs nothing; getting it witnessed or notarised to your state’s standard is the part people skip, and an improperly executed directive can be ignored at the worst possible moment. Requirements vary — some states want two witnesses, some a notary, some either — and a witness who is also a beneficiary or your health-care provider is disqualified in many states. Check your own form’s instructions and follow them exactly.
Then make it findable. A directive nobody can produce is functionally the same as no directive: give a copy to your proxy, your doctor and the hospital system you would actually use.
The rest of the set
The directive is the health-care half. The money half is a financial power of attorney, and the two are usually bought together. Full pricing for the bundle: estate planning package cost. And the document that actually distributes anything: what a will costs.
Getting the money side right
The directive is the cheapest document in the set and the one families are most grateful exists. The decisions that follow a serious diagnosis – drawdown order, insurance, who pays for care – are the expensive ones.