Updated August 4, 2026. Quick answer for Louisiana: 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 Louisiana number is estimating. What is genuinely Louisiana-specific, and what actually decides whether your will works, is how it has to be executed. The detail worth knowing before you sign anything: Louisiana is the one state where a notary genuinely is required for the main will form — its law is civil-law, not common-law, and the notarial testament is its own instrument.
The honest position on Louisiana 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 Louisiana and present the result as a Louisiana figure. When a defensible state-level dataset exists, this page will carry it and say where it came from.
What Louisiana 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. La. Civ. Code arts. 1574, 1576
- If a beneficiary witnesses it: the gift to that witness is void or cut back, but the will still stands (purging statute). La. Civ. Code art. 1582
- Notary required for the will to be valid: yes. The notarial form is the point here. La. Civ. Code arts. 1575, 1576
- Self-proving affidavit: not provided for. Your executor may have to locate the witnesses at probate. La. Civ. Code arts. 1570-1616
- Handwritten (holographic) wills: not recognised. La. Civ. Code art. 1575(A)
- Electronic wills: not recognised. No electronic or remote testament article in Civil Code bk. III tit. II
The full 44-jurisdiction comparison is on what each state requires for a will to be valid. Whether a beneficiary may witness is covered nationally on can a beneficiary witness a will, and the notary question on does a will need to be notarised.
Does Louisiana 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 Louisiana your realistic routes are a DIY platform, a flat-fee attorney will, or an hourly engagement if the estate is complicated. New Mexico is often listed as a fifth statutory-form state; we could not reach its official code to confirm it, so we leave it out rather than repeat it.
What skipping it costs in Louisiana
Louisiana sets probate compensation on a mixed basis rather than a single percentage schedule. The two numbers that decide what an estate actually pays are the fee basis and the small-estate threshold.
Fee basis: Executor/administrator: default statutory commission of 2.5% of the gross inventory value of the succession absent testament provision or agreement; court may increase on showing of inadequacy (La. C.C.P. art. 3351). Attorney fees: reasonable (no statutory schedule).
A will does not avoid probate — it directs it. What it prevents is the estate being distributed by Louisiana’s intestacy statute instead of by you, and it lets you name the executor rather than leaving the court to appoint one. The arithmetic on the other side is on what probate costs in Louisiana.
If a DIY will is the right route for you in Louisiana
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 Louisiana 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 a will costs nationally — every route priced, and the four situations where DIY fails.
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.