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 Nevada: 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 Nevada number is estimating. What is genuinely Nevada-specific, and what actually decides whether your will works, is how it has to be executed. The detail worth knowing before you sign anything: what is genuinely Nevada-specific is how a will has to be executed, and that is what decides whether the document works at all.
Putting a loan in writing? The interest limit, the signing rules and the time limit to sue, from the state’s own statutes: Nevada promissory note.
How to make a will in Nevada: what the statute says
Each line is a passage quoted from the Nevada statute itself; the section has the exceptions.
- Signing and witnesses. NRS 133.040: “…is valid unless it is in writing and signed by the testator, or by an attending person at the testator’s express direction, and attested by at least two competent witnesses who subscribe their names to the will in the presence of the testator.”
- Gift to a witness. NRS 133.060: “All devises in a will to a subscribing witness are void unless there are two other competent subscribing witnesses to the will.”
- Self-proving affidavit. NRS 133.050(1): “Any attesting witness to a will, including, without limitation, an electronic will, may sign a declaration under penalty of perjury or an affidavit before any person authorized to administer oaths in or out of the State, stating such facts as the witness would be required to testify to in court to prove the will.”
- Handwritten (holographic) will. NRS 133.090(1): “A holographic will is a will in which the signature, date and material provisions are written by the hand of the testator, whether or not it is witnessed or notarized.”
The cost of settling an estate is a separate question: Nevada Probate Cost 2026.
The honest position on Nevada 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 Nevada and present the result as a Nevada figure. When a defensible state-level dataset exists, this page will carry it and say where it came from.
What Nevada 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. NRS 133.040
- If a beneficiary witnesses it: the gift to that witness is void unless there are two other competent subscribing witnesses, but the will still stands (purging statute). NRS 133.060
- Notary required for the will to be valid: no. A notary is not what makes a will valid here — the witnesses are. NRS 133.040
- Self-proving affidavit: available. Signing one at the same time as the will is what saves your executor from tracking witnesses down years later. NRS 133.050(1)
- Handwritten (holographic) wills: recognised, with conditions. The statute’s conditions are quoted in the statute section near the top of this page. NRS 133.090
- Electronic wills: recognised. Nevada’s own framework, one of the earliest e-will statutes, predating the 2019 Uniform Act; includes state-specific qualified-custodian and certified-paper-original provisions. NRS 133.085-133.088, 133.300-133.340
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 Nevada give you a free form?
No. We found no complete statutory will form in the Nevada code. California, Maine, Michigan, New Mexico and Wisconsin each print one in their own codes. In Nevada 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 Nevada
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 Nevada 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 Nevada
Nevada 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: where the will provides no compensation, PR commission (NRS 150.020) on the estate accounted for, less liens and encumbrances: 4% of first $15,000; 3% of next $85,000; 2% above $100,000. Attorney may elect estate-value schedule (NRS 150.060): 4% of first $100,000; 3% of next $100,000; 2% of next $800,000; 1% of next $9,000,000; 0.5% of next $15,000,000; reasonable amount above $25,000,000 (hourly or other court-approved methods also permitted). Verified on leg.state.nv.us.
Small-estate threshold: where the decedent leaves no real property in Nevada, $150,000 where the claimant is the surviving spouse; $25,000 for any other claimant. Amounts due for Armed Forces service and registered motor vehicles sit outside the cap — NRS 146.080 (amended 2025).
A will does not avoid probate — it directs it. What it prevents is the estate being distributed by Nevada’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 Nevada.
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 Nevada 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 Nevada probate filing fee.
Related: how long creditors have to file a claim against an estate in Nevada.