Writing a will is one of the more affordable pieces of legal work you are ever likely to commission in Singapore, yet many people delay it for years, sometimes assuming it will cost far more than it actually does. This guide breaks down what writing a will genuinely costs here, and what actually drives the price up or down.
The Short Answer
For a simple, straightforward will, most lawyers in Singapore charge somewhere between roughly $200 and $400. For a more complex will, one involving overseas assets, a business, or more intricate family arrangements, fees commonly start from around $500 and can run considerably higher depending on exactly how much complexity is involved. These figures are for the lawyer’s professional fee alone and generally do not include separate services like witnessing arrangements outside the lawyer’s office or storage.
What Makes a Will “Simple” in Pricing Terms
A will is generally priced as simple when it involves a straightforward distribution of assets to a small number of clearly identified beneficiaries, such as a spouse and children, without unusual conditions, trusts, or overseas complications. If you can describe who gets what in a couple of sentences, your will likely falls into this more affordable category, and many firms are able to offer a fixed, upfront fee for exactly this kind of matter.
What Pushes the Cost Up
Several factors commonly increase the cost of drafting a will. Owning assets in more than one country adds real complexity, since the lawyer needs to consider how your will interacts with the law of the other jurisdiction, sometimes requiring a separate will for overseas assets entirely. Wanting to set up a trust within your will, perhaps to protect assets for young children or a beneficiary with special needs, involves considerably more drafting work than a straightforward outright gift. Owning a business, particularly if you want to address succession or transfer of your shareholding specifically, adds another layer of consideration. Blended families, where you want to balance provisions between a current spouse and children from a previous relationship, often require more careful, bespoke drafting to reduce the risk of a future dispute.
Fixed Fee Versus Hourly Billing for Wills
Because will-writing is a fairly standardised, competitive area of legal practice in Singapore, fixed fees are extremely common, and many firms will quote you a clear upfront figure once they understand the basic shape of your situation. This is good news for anyone nervous about an open-ended bill for something that feels, on the surface, fairly simple. Hourly billing tends to only come into play for genuinely complex wills where the scope of work is harder to predict in advance, such as those involving substantial trusts or unusual family circumstances.
Costs Beyond the Lawyer’s Fee
Writing your will is not the only cost worth thinking about as part of proper estate planning. A separate CPF nomination, made directly with the CPF Board rather than through your will, is typically free to set up yourself online. If you also want a Lasting Power of Attorney, covering decisions in the event you lose mental capacity while still alive, this is an entirely separate document with its own costs, which have become considerably more affordable for Singapore Citizens in recent years. Storing your will with the Singapore Academy of Law’s Wills Registry, a service that simply records that a will exists and where it is kept, is optional and involves a modest fee.
Timing Your Will and Its Cost
There is a common but mistaken belief that will-writing is something to defer until later in life, or until your finances have “settled down” into their final shape. In reality, the cost of writing a will does not meaningfully increase with age or life stage on its own, and waiting only increases the risk of dying without one in place at all, which is a considerably more expensive and stressful outcome for your family than the modest fee of writing a straightforward will earlier. If your circumstances change significantly later, such as marriage, having children, or acquiring substantial new assets, updating an existing will is generally cheaper than writing one from scratch, which is another reason to simply start with a basic version now rather than waiting for a perfect moment that may never arrive.
Can You Write a Will Without a Lawyer?
Yes, you are not legally required to use a lawyer to write a will in Singapore, and various will-writing services and templates exist at a lower cost than engaging a lawyer directly. This can work reasonably well for a genuinely simple situation. That said, the risk with a DIY or template approach is that Singapore has specific execution requirements, particularly around signing and witnessing, and a will that fails to meet these requirements properly can be invalid entirely, which defeats the purpose of writing one in the first place. For anything beyond the most straightforward situation, the modest cost of a lawyer’s involvement is generally worth the peace of mind that your will is actually going to work as intended.
Comparing Quotes From Different Firms
If you consult more than one firm, make sure you are comparing like with like. Ask each firm what exactly is included in their quoted fee: does it cover one round of revisions if you change your mind about something, or is that charged separately? Does the fee include a basic review of how your major assets, such as a jointly held HDB flat or your CPF, interact with the will, or does the lawyer simply draft what you tell them without further comment? A slightly higher fee that includes proper guidance on these points is often better value than the cheapest option that leaves you to work out these interactions yourself.
Why the Cost Is Genuinely Worth It
Given how modest the cost of a simple will is relative to the value of the assets it typically governs, and relative to the cost and stress a family can face administering an estate without one, this is one of the more clearly worthwhile legal expenses most adults will ever incur. Dying without a valid will means your estate is distributed according to a fixed legal formula that may not reflect your actual wishes, and the administrative process your family faces, applying for Letters of Administration, can end up costing more in time, stress, and legal fees than a will would have cost you to prepare in the first place.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to pay again if I want to make small changes to my will later?
Minor changes are usually handled through a codicil, a short supplementary document, or occasionally a full redraft depending on how extensive the changes are, and this typically costs less than the original will, though the exact fee depends on the firm and the nature of the changes.
Is it more expensive to write a will if I want to include specific conditions, such as an inheritance only being released at a certain age?
Yes, adding specific conditions generally increases the drafting complexity and therefore the cost, since the lawyer needs to draft precise language to ensure the condition is legally enforceable and clearly understood.
Do lawyers charge more to draft a will for an unmarried couple compared to a married one?
Not inherently because of marital status itself, though unmarried couples sometimes have more complex intentions around jointly acquired property or provisions for a partner who would not automatically inherit under intestacy rules, which can add to the drafting work required.
Can I get a discount if my spouse and I write our wills together at the same time?
Many firms do offer a modest discount or a bundled rate for a couple writing mirror or complementary wills together in the same engagement, so it is worth asking directly if this applies when you are both writing wills at the same time.
Does the cost of writing a will in Singapore vary significantly based on which part of Singapore the law firm is located in?
Location within Singapore is a relatively minor factor compared to the complexity of your specific will and the firm’s general pricing structure, so it is generally more useful to compare based on service and complexity than simply the firm’s address.
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About the Author: Randy Alta
