This tool provides general cost estimates for informational purposes only. It is NOT legal advice. Costs vary significantly based on individual circumstances. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for specific guidance.
2026 cost estimates for estate planning / probate in Tennessee, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a estate planning / probate in Tennessee costs on average $1,850, typically $900-$2,700 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $155 to $310 per hour. A moderate-complexity case typically takes 2-6 weeks to resolve. Common related costs include notarization fees ($10-$25) and trust registration fee ($50-$200).
Data verified: June 29, 2026
| Complexity | Low | Median | High | Typical Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple | $250 | $500 | $800 | 1-2 weeks |
| Moderate | $900 | $1,850 | $2,700 | 2-6 weeks |
| Complex | $2,700 | $5,400 | $9,000 | 1-3 months |
Last verified: June 2026
$155 – $310/ hour
Median: $245/hr
2-6 weeks
For moderate complexity cases
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</script>Estate planning and probate cost formation depends on which side of death the work happens on. Planning documents drafted while someone is alive — a will, a revocable living trust, powers of attorney — are usually flat-fee, priced by document complexity and whether a trust (which avoids probate but requires more drafting) is involved rather than a simple will alone. Probate, which happens after death when an estate moves through court, is billed differently: often hourly or as a percentage of the estate's value, and its cost tracks estate size and how many beneficiaries or disputes are involved.
The biggest cost driver in probate specifically is whether the estate is contested. An estate with a clear will, cooperative beneficiaries, and no significant debts moves through simple probate with predictable court filing fees, executor fees, and appraisal costs. A contested estate — disputed will validity, disagreements among heirs, or complex assets like a business — adds litigation-style hourly billing on top of the base probate costs, which is why complex-case figures on this page run substantially above the simple-case median.
Take a moderate-complexity estate planning / probate matter in Tennessee. The recorded median total is $1,850, with reported quotes clustering between $900 and $2,700. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $310–$925, which leaves roughly $925–$1,540 of the Tennessee median as professional time — the part that differs between quotes.
At $1,850, the median estate planning / probate cost in Tennessee runs 5% below the $1,954 national average across all 50 states and DC.
Tennessee carries 3 rows — simple, $250–$800 at $135–$245/hr over 1-2 weeks; moderate, $900–$2,700 at $155–$310/hr over 2-6 weeks; complex, $2,700–$9,000 at $220–$420/hr over 1-3 months — on 4 shared citations. They put it below the midpoint of the table without reaching the bottom quarter.
$1,850 is a median, not the middle of the band — $950 above the $900 floor, $850 under the $2,700 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 46.
Tennessee occupies the 33rd row of 46 for a estate planning / probate. Its $1,850 median trails the $2,075 table midpoint by $225, which is 11% — close enough that a single firm's quote can straddle both figures.
Michigan is only $0 above Tennessee at $1,850, but the drop to Iowa at $1,750 is $100 — the state sits at the bottom edge of its group, with clear air beneath it.
Wyoming, Florida, Michigan record medians within three percent of Tennessee's $1,850. A estate planning / probate quote anywhere in that group is describing effectively the same market.
Rate and total sit 2 places apart — 35th of 46 at $245 an hour against 33rd on the estate planning / probate total — which is close enough to read as the same signal.
| Rank | State | Median | Against Tennessee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 27 | Pennsylvania | $2,000 | +$150 |
| 28 | Indiana | $1,950 | +$100 |
| 29 | Oregon | $1,950 | +$100 |
| 30 | Wyoming | $1,900 | +$50 |
| 31 | Florida | $1,850 | −$0 |
| 32 | Michigan | $1,850 | −$0 |
| 33 | Tennessee | $1,850 | — |
| 34 | Iowa | $1,750 | −$100 |
| 35 | New Mexico | $1,750 | −$100 |
| 36 | Nebraska | $1,650 | −$200 |
| 37 | Idaho | $1,600 | −$250 |
| 38 | Kentucky | $1,600 | −$250 |
| 39 | Louisiana | $1,600 | −$250 |
Within ten percent of the Tennessee figure there are 5 states above and only 2 below. $0 up or $100 down moves Tennessee a row, which means the ranking has far more room to improve than to slip: the estate planning / probate field is dense overhead and sparse underneath.
Climbing five places would mean passing Indiana, Oregon, Wyoming, Florida, Michigan and adding $100 to the $1,850 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under Iowa, New Mexico, Nebraska, Idaho, Kentucky: $250.
$750 short of Hawaii ($2,600), $500 clear of Alabama ($1,350).
The $1,850 median covers only about 8 hours at the $245 median rate, which is short enough that flat-fee and limited-scope arrangements, rather than an hourly meter, tend to describe how the work is actually billed. The peer median is 7 hours, so 1 more hours of work sit behind the Tennessee figure than behind the typical state's.
Moving from a simple to a complex estate planning / probate multiplies the Tennessee total by 10.8, and almost all of that is hours rather than price: 3 hours at $175 becomes 17 hours at $310, so the workload grows 5.7x while the rate grows only 1.77x. Complexity here buys attorney time, not a premium hourly rate.
From $900 to $2,700 the moderate band is $1,800 wide, close to the $2,050 peer median. End to end that is 7 hours at $245.
A third ordering: by implied hours Tennessee is 15th of 46 at 8 hours, 18 places above its cost rank of 33rd on cost — more work behind the same estate planning / probate money.
65% up the $900–$2,700 band sits the $2,075 table midpoint, buying 8 hours at $245 against the 8 the local estate planning / probate median implies — 0 hours apart.
| Measure | Tennessee | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $1,850 | 33rd |
| Hourly median | $245 | 35th |
| Implied hours | 8 | 15th |
| Simple median | $500 | 38th |
| Complex median | $5,400 | 35th |
$245 an hour puts Tennessee between Iowa ($245) and Nebraska ($230) — not the estate planning / probate cost pairing.
Idaho, Indiana, Iowa record the same $245: rate cannot separate them, totals do.
$1,850 buys 11 hours at $175, 8 at $245, 6 at $310.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 33 | Indiana | $245 |
| 34 | Iowa | $245 |
| 35 | Tennessee | $245 |
| 36 | Nebraska | $230 |
| 37 | North Carolina | $230 |
The ranking barely moves across tiers — 38th at the simple tier, 33rd at moderate, 35th at complex of 46 — so Tennessee keeps roughly the same relative position whether the estate planning / probate is straightforward or contested.
$500 is 38th of 46 on a straightforward estate planning / probate, under South Dakota ($500) and over Alabama ($450), $125 under the $625 tier midpoint.
$5,400 is 35th of 46 once contested, between Idaho ($5,500) and Nebraska ($5,200), $500 off the $5,900 tier midpoint.
$100 separates the simple ceiling of $800 from the moderate floor of $900, so the first escalation is a clean break, while the moderate and complex bands overlap from $2,700 upward. The expensive end of a routine estate planning / probate and the cheap end of a contested one are the same money in Tennessee.
| Tier | Tennessee | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $500 | 38th | $625 | 3 |
| moderate | $1,850 | 33rd | $2,075 | 8 |
| complex | $5,400 | 35th | $5,900 | 17 |
$500 drops Tennessee to 38th of 46 on straightforward matters, 5 below its moderate position and $125 (20%) under the $625 tier midpoint.
3 implied hours at $175: 38% of the moderate tier's 8, over 1-2 weeks.
South Dakota ($500) and Alabama ($450) bracket it — a $50 window.
4 states record a simple-tier median within three percent of $500, denser than the 3 around the moderate row.
$5,400 drops Tennessee to 35th of 46 on contested matters, 2 below its moderate position and $500 (8%) under the $5,900 tier midpoint.
17 implied hours at $310: 213% of the moderate tier's 8, over 1-3 months.
Idaho ($5,500) and Nebraska ($5,200) bracket it — a $300 window.
2 states sit within three percent of the $5,400 here, against 3 at the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 36 | North Carolina | $500 |
| 37 | South Dakota | $500 |
| 38 | Tennessee | $500 |
| 39 | Alabama | $450 |
| 40 | Arkansas | $450 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 33 | Indiana | $5,550 |
| 34 | Idaho | $5,500 |
| 35 | Tennessee | $5,400 |
| 36 | Nebraska | $5,200 |
| 37 | North Dakota | $5,200 |
Among the 8 matter types tracked in Tennessee, a estate planning / probate records the smallest median at $1,850, below Real Estate Closing on the line above.
The state does not rank uniformly. Tennessee is 25th of 46 for Personal Injury but 41st for Divorce, a 16-place spread across the matter types tracked here, so its 33rd on estate planning / probate says little about what the other lines cost.
The spread across practice areas is wide. Immigration runs 1% below its own midpoint, while Personal Injury runs 22% below its own midpoint — 21 percentage points apart. A single "Tennessee is expensive" or "Tennessee is inexpensive" claim would be wrong for at least one of the matter types tracked here.
The practice areas sit unusually close together in Tennessee — the largest tracked median is 4.6x the smallest, against 5.1x for the typical state — so one figure travels further across matter types here than it would elsewhere.
0 of 8 matter types rank Tennessee in the upper third, 4 in the lower, 4 between; estate planning / probate is 33rd.
In percentile terms it sits at the 29th percentile of the 46 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $3,150 | $8,500 | $26,900 | 32 | 40th | −17% | North Dakota |
| Divorce | $2,800 | $7,400 | $18,550 | 28 | 41st | −13% | Indiana |
| DUI / DWI | $3,000 | $6,550 | $16,350 | 27 | 35th | −12% | Indiana |
| Immigration | $1,600 | $4,700 | $10,650 | 19 | 26th | −1% | Michigan |
| Personal Injury | $1,200 | $4,050 | $12,500 | — | 25th | −22% | North Dakota |
| Bankruptcy | $1,250 | $2,950 | $4,100 | 13 | 38th | −18% | Wyoming |
| Real Estate Closing | $900 | $2,100 | $4,150 | 10 | 27th | −6% | Wyoming |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $500 | $1,850 | $5,400 | 8 | 33rd | −11% | Michigan |
Simple tier. $500 ÷ $175 = about 3 hours — 5 fewer than the moderate tier's 8, and $1,350 less.
Work against price. $1,850 to $5,400 is a $3,550 step, mostly work: 9 more hours at $245 is $2,205, while moving to $310 across 17 hours adds $1,105. Work carries 67%.
Borrowing the wrong row. Budgeting from Iowa ($1,750) lands $100 under Tennessee; from Michigan ($1,850), $0 over; from the $2,075 table midpoint, $225 out.
Contested against simple. At Tennessee's own recorded figures, $5,400 buys 10.8 matters at the $500 simple median — or, counted in time, 17 implied hours against 3, a factor of 5.7 — the two ratios differing because the rate rises with the tier.
Verified June 2026. Filing fees change on the Tennesseecourt's own schedule; billing models are covered in the legal fees guide.
This tool provides general cost estimates for informational purposes only. It is NOT legal advice. Costs vary significantly based on individual circumstances. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for specific guidance.