Updated September 3, 2026. Quick answer for Tennessee: nobody publishes a reliable, state-specific median for what a will costs here, and the figures you will see quoted, including ours, are national. Anyone showing you a precise Tennessee number is estimating. What is genuinely Tennessee-specific, and what actually decides whether your will works, is how it has to be executed.
The honest position on Tennessee pricing
We publish a national attorney median for a simple will of $625 (middle 50% $450–$1,000) and a DIY platform range of $129–$599. Attorney figures are the national medians from the LegalTemplates 2026 survey of 909 firms, verified July 23, 2026. They are national, not state-specific. Geographic multipliers are widely republished, but the primary source for them blocks automated verification, so we will not apply one to Tennessee and present the result as a Tennessee figure. When a defensible state-level dataset exists, this page will carry it and say where it came from.
What Tennessee law actually requires
This is the part that is genuinely state-specific, and the part that decides whether the document works at all. Every line below is read from the statute, with the citation attached:
- Witnesses: 2. Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 32-1-103, 32-1-105
- If a beneficiary witnesses it: Purging statute: Tenn. Code Ann. § 32-1-103: not invalidated, but unless attested by two disinterested witnesses, the interested witness forfeits so much of the gift as exceeds their intestate share.
- Notary required for the will to be valid: No
- Handwritten wills: Recognized: Tenn. Code Ann. § 32-1-105: no witness needed at signing if the signature and all material provisions are in the testator’s handwriting, but the handwriting must be proved by two witnesses at probate.
- Electronic wills: No
The full 44-jurisdiction comparison is on what each state requires for a will to be valid.
Does Tennessee give you a free form?
No. Only four states we can verify publish a complete statutory will form in their own code: California, Maine, Michigan and Wisconsin. In Tennessee your realistic routes are a DIY platform, a flat-fee attorney will, or an hourly engagement if the estate is complicated.
If a DIY will is the right route for you in Tennessee
Where the estate is straightforward and none of the complications above apply, a properly executed DIY will does the job, and how it is signed matters far more than where the document came from. LawDepot builds a state-specific last will and testament, which you then sign and witness under the Tennessee rules above.
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.
What skipping it costs in Tennessee
A will does not avoid probate: it directs it. What it prevents is the estate being distributed by Tennessee’s intestacy statute instead of by you, and it lets you name the executor rather than leaving the court to appoint one.
What a will costs nationally: every route priced, and the four situations where DIY fails.
Also for Tennessee: Tennessee Small Estate Affidavit · Tennessee Advance Directive Requirements · What Adult Guardianship Costs in Tennessee.
Statutory text read at the state’s own legislature or official code site. Pricing figures are national and dated above. General information, not legal advice.
Related: whether Tennessee requires the executor to post a bond.
The court’s own filing fee to open probate is a separate cost from what’s on this page, see the Tennessee probate filing fee.
Related: how long creditors have to file a claim against an estate in Tennessee.