Clear Money Guide
What this state guide covers
A quick view of the questions, practical details and source notes below.
Updated August 4, 2026. Quick answer for Maine: 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 Maine number is estimating. What is genuinely Maine-specific, and what actually decides whether your will works, is how it has to be executed. The detail worth knowing before you sign anything: Maine is one of the few states we can verify that publishes a complete statutory will form in its own code — a free, official starting point most states do not give you.
Putting a loan in writing? The interest limit, the signing rules and the time limit to sue, from the state’s own statutes: Maine promissory note.
How to make a will in Maine: what the statute says
Each line is a short extract quoted from the Maine statute itself; the section has the exceptions.
- Signing and witnesses. 18-C M.R.S. § 2-502(1)(C): “Signed by at least 2 individuals, each of whom signed within a reasonable time after the individual witnessed either the signing of the will as described in paragraph B or the testator’s acknowledgment of that signature or acknowledgment of the will.”
- Interested witnesses. 18-C M.R.S. § 2-504(2): “The signing of a will by an interested witness does not invalidate the will or any portion of it.”
- Self-proving affidavit. 18-C M.R.S. § 2-503(1): “Any will may be simultaneously executed, attested and made self-proved by acknowledgment thereof by the testator and affidavits of the witnesses, each made before an officer authorized to administer oaths under the laws of the state where execution occurs…”
- Handwritten (holographic) will. 18-C M.R.S. § 2-502(2): “A will that does not comply with subsection 1 is valid as a holographic will, whether or not witnessed, if the signature and material portions of the document are in the testator’s handwriting.”
The cost of settling an estate is a separate question: Maine Probate Cost 2026.
The honest position on Maine 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 Maine and present the result as a Maine figure. When a defensible state-level dataset exists, this page will carry it and say where it came from.
What Maine 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. 18-C M.R.S. § 2-502(1)(C)
- If a beneficiary witnesses it: the witness is competent and the gift is unaffected — unusual, and worth knowing. 18-C M.R.S. § 2-504(2)
- Notary required for the will to be valid: no. A notary is not what makes a will valid here — the witnesses are. 18-C M.R.S. § 2-502
- Self-proving affidavit: available. Signing one at the same time as the will is what saves your executor from tracking witnesses down years later. 18-C M.R.S. § 2-503
- Handwritten (holographic) wills: recognised. Valid whether or not witnessed if the signature and material provisions are in the testator’s handwriting. 18-C M.R.S. § 2-502(2)
- Electronic wills: not recognised. 18-C M.R.S. art. 2 pts. 5-6 section index – no electronic-wills provision
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 Maine give you a free form?
Yes. Maine is one of the few states we can verify that publish a complete statutory will form in their own code: the others are California, Michigan, New Mexico and Wisconsin. A statutory form is free and official, but it is deliberately rigid: it handles a simple estate and nothing more.
What skipping it costs in Maine
Maine sets probate compensation using “reasonable” compensation with no percentage schedule. The two things that decide what an estate actually pays are the fee basis and the small-estate threshold, and Maine prints no current dollar figure for either.
Fee basis: UPC state: reasonable compensation (18-C M.R.S. §3-719); no percentage schedule.
Small-estate threshold: Maine sets one, but it does not print it as a current number. 18-C M.R.S. § 3-1201 ties the affidavit ceiling to § 1-108, which re-computes it for inflation from the Consumer Price Index for the calendar year before the death, so the operative figure moves with the year the decedent died. There is no statewide published amount: since PL 2025 c. 76 each county probate court must publish the adjusted value annually on its own website (§ 3-1201(3)). We state no figure here rather than one that is out of date — the number that governs is the one your county’s probate court publishes for the year of death.
A will does not avoid probate — it directs it. What it prevents is the estate being distributed by Maine’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 Maine.
If a DIY will is the right route for you in Maine
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 Maine 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.
Related: whether Maine 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 Maine probate filing fee.
Related: how long creditors have to file a claim against an estate in Maine.