An estate attorney drafts and signs the legal documents: your will, any trusts, powers of attorney and healthcare directives. A financial planner works out what those documents need to do, then keeps the rest of your money in line with them: beneficiary forms, account titles, life insurance and taxes. Only the attorney can do the first job. Most families need both, and the plan works best when they talk to each other.
A one-time plan from a fee-only planner costs a median $2,000. Attorneys don’t publish prices in any national dataset we could verify, but many quote a flat fee for a package of documents.
The two side by side
| Estate attorney | Financial planner | |
|---|---|---|
| Licensed by | A state bar | No licence for planning itself; investment advice needs SEC or state registration |
| Main work | Drafting and signing wills, trusts, powers of attorney | Deciding what the plan should achieve, and keeping assets in line with it |
| Can draft your documents | Yes | No, unless also a licensed attorney acting as your lawyer |
| Beneficiary forms and account titles | Advises, often at signing | Reviews and updates them over time |
| Estate and income tax | Legal structure, trusts, state law | Projections, which assets to leave to whom |
| Ongoing contact | Usually at signing and after big changes | Often yearly |
| Typical price | Often a flat fee per document package; not published nationally | $2,000 median for a one-time plan |
| Check it at | Your state bar’s lawyer search | adviserinfo.sec.gov and the credential’s issuer |
Where the line is
Writing a will or trust for someone else is the practice of law, and states restrict it to licensed attorneys. Florida’s Supreme Court drew the line clearly in 1992: gathering the information for a living trust isn’t the practice of law, but “the assembly, drafting, execution, and funding” of the trust document is. Other states draw their own lines, so the safe division of labour is simple. The attorney drafts, signs and advises on the law. The planner gathers, models and coordinates.
A planner who offers to “do your trust” without an attorney involved is a reason for caution. Some planning firms work with an attorney they refer clients to. That’s fine, as long as you’re the attorney’s client and you know whether money changes hands between them.
What a planner adds
Beneficiary forms. Retirement accounts, life insurance and accounts with a transfer-on-death designation pass to whoever is named on the account, not under your will. FINRA puts it plainly: a TOD plan or other beneficiary document supersedes your will. An out-of-date form can undo a careful will, and a planner who manages or reviews your accounts is the person most likely to catch it.
Which assets go to whom. Leaving a traditional IRA to a child in a high tax bracket and a taxable account to a charity can give the same amounts a very different after-tax result. Planners model that. Our guide to advisors for an inheritance explains how heirs are taxed on each kind of account.
Funding the plan. A trust only controls what’s put into it. The planner can track which accounts have been moved and which haven’t, working from the attorney’s instructions.
Keeping it current. A marriage, divorce, birth, death, move or sale changes what the documents should say. A planner who meets you yearly tells you when it’s time to go back to the attorney.
When each is the better choice
Start with an attorney when the documents are the gap: no will, children under 18, a blended family, a family member with special needs, property in more than one state, or a business to pass on.
Start with a planner when the documents exist but you don’t know whether they still fit: accounts have grown, beneficiaries are years old, or you’re not sure what the plan does in numbers. The planner can tell you what to ask the attorney to change, which keeps the legal bill focused.
Use both together for larger or more complicated estates. For 2026, the IRS sets the federal estate tax basic exclusion at $15 million per person, so most families owe no federal estate tax. State estate and inheritance taxes, trusts for children, and gifting plans (the 2026 annual gift exclusion is $19,000 per recipient) are where the attorney and planner need to work from the same numbers. Advisors with this depth are under family wealth transfer and estate planning.
For a parent who needs help now, our guide to advisors for aging parents covers powers of attorney and care costs, and our guide for widows covers the first months after a death.
What each costs
Financial planners. Fee-only planners who publish prices charge a median $2,000 for a one-time plan (middle half $845 to $3,600), $300 an hour, or $4,500 a year for ongoing planning. A one-time plan that reviews your beneficiaries, titles and estate documents is often enough if nothing else needs managing. Our guide to what a one-time plan costs explains what moves the price.
Estate attorneys. We couldn’t find a reliable, current national survey of estate attorney fees. Many attorneys quote a flat fee for a document package, such as a will, powers of attorney and a healthcare directive, or a revocable trust with the supporting documents. Ask for the quote in writing, with what’s included: funding instructions, a signing meeting, and updates after a life change.
Online services sit at the low end. Trust & Will, for example, lists a will plan at $199 and a trust plan at $499, plus a $49 yearly membership, checked October 31, 2026. They can suit a simple situation. They don’t give you an attorney’s advice unless you add it.
How to check each one
An estate attorney. Confirm the licence and any discipline on your state bar’s lawyer search. Some states certify specialists: California’s State Bar, for example, certifies attorneys in estate planning, trust and probate law. The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, whose fellows are nominated by other fellows, has a Find a Fellow search.
A financial planner. Look for a CFP, whose coursework includes estate planning, and check how they’re paid with our guide to telling whether an advisor is fee-only. Some planners add the Accredited Estate Planner (AEP) designation from the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils, which requires a credential such as a CPA, CFP or JD, at least five years of practice, and at least a third of working time spent on estate planning. Of the 24,501 fee-only advisors in the public graph, 17 list an AEP and 52 list a JD. A JD is a law degree, not a licence to practise, so check the state bar if a planner who lists one offers legal work.
Then run the usual checks on the SEC’s adviser search, covered step by step in our guide to checking a financial advisor. To find planners who focus on passing wealth on, start with family wealth transfer specialists.