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 Virginia: 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 Virginia number is estimating. What is genuinely Virginia-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 Virginia-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: Virginia promissory note.
How to make a will in Virginia: what the statute says
Each line is a passage quoted from the Virginia statute itself; the section has the exceptions.
- Signing and witnesses. Va. Code § 64.2-403(C): “A will not wholly in the testator’s handwriting is not valid unless the signature of the testator is made, or the will is acknowledged by the testator, in the presence of at least two competent witnesses who are present at the same time and who subscribe the will in the presence of the testator.”
- Interested witnesses. Va. Code § 64.2-405: “No person is incompetent to testify for or against a will solely by reason of any interest he possesses in the will or the estate of the testator.”
- Handwritten (holographic) will. Va. Code § 64.2-403(B): “A will wholly in the testator’s handwriting is valid without further requirements, provided that the fact that a will is wholly in the testator’s handwriting and signed by the testator is proved by at least two disinterested witnesses.”
The cost of settling an estate is a separate question: Virginia Probate Cost 2026.
The honest position on Virginia 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 Virginia and present the result as a Virginia figure. When a defensible state-level dataset exists, this page will carry it and say where it came from.
What Virginia 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. Va. Code § 64.2-403(C)
- If a beneficiary witnesses it: the witness is competent and the gift is unaffected — unusual, and worth knowing. Va. Code § 64.2-405
- Notary required for the will to be valid: no. A notary is not what makes a will valid here — the witnesses are. Va. Code § 64.2-403
- Self-proving affidavit: available. Signing one at the same time as the will is what saves your executor from tracking witnesses down years later. Va. Code § 64.2-452
- Handwritten (holographic) wills: recognised, with conditions. The statute’s conditions are quoted in the statute section near the top of this page. Va. Code § 64.2-403(B)
- Electronic wills: not recognised. Code of Virginia tit. 64.2 ch. 4 (no electronic-wills article)
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 Virginia give you a free form?
No. We found no complete statutory will form in the Virginia code. California, Maine, Michigan, New Mexico and Wisconsin each print one in their own codes. In Virginia 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 Virginia
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 Virginia 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 Virginia
Virginia sets probate compensation using “reasonable” compensation with no percentage schedule. The two numbers that decide what an estate actually pays are the fee basis and the small-estate threshold.
Fee basis: Personal representative entitled to ‘reasonable compensation’ (Va. Code §64.2-1208); in practice Commissioners of Accounts apply published guideline percentage scales (commonly around 5% of receipts, sliding), but these are guidelines, not statute. Attorney fees reasonable.
Small-estate threshold: $75,000 value of the decedent’s entire personal probate estate at date of death (Va. Code § 64.2-601).
A will does not avoid probate — it directs it. What it prevents is the estate being distributed by Virginia’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 Virginia.
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 Virginia 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 Virginia probate filing fee.
Related: how long creditors have to file a claim against an estate in Virginia.