Good estate planning website design makes a careful, often older visitor feel informed and comfortable enough to book a consultation. That means readable type, plain explanations of wills and trusts, clear package and fee information, a visible attorney, and an easy way to call or schedule. Clever animation and dramatic legal imagery do little for this audience. Clarity does most of the work.
Below is how we'd approach a planning firm's site, page by page.
Who Is Actually Reading Your Site
Your typical visitor is not in a hurry. They may be a couple in their fifties or sixties, a parent with young kids who just bought a house, or an adult daughter researching for her father. They read several pages, leave, and come back.
Three things follow from that. They'll forgive a plain design but not confusing navigation. They read on phones and tablets as often as desktops, often with larger system text sizes turned on. And they're judging whether you're the kind of person they'd trust with private family details, including who gets what and who gets left out.
Every design decision should serve that reader.
Estate Planning Website Design for Older Readers
Estate planning website design should start with readability, because a large share of your prospects are over 55 and many of them quietly leave sites they find hard to read.
- Body text around 18px or larger, with generous line spacing. Light gray text on white is a common offender.
- High contrast for buttons and links. A pale gold button on cream looks elegant and gets missed.
- A phone number in large type at the top of every page, tappable on mobile. Many planning clients prefer to call.
- Big tap targets. Small menu links are hard to hit with less-steady hands.
- No auto-playing video, no chat window that pops up over the text after five seconds. For this audience, interruptions read as pushy.
- Pages that still work when the browser text is enlarged. Test it yourself at 150 percent.
Accessibility is also good practice in its own right, and the general guidance in our law firm website design guide applies here with extra weight.
Pages Every Planning Site Needs
A planning firm's site should have a dedicated page for each service you sell, plus the pages that answer a nervous buyer's questions before they call.
| Page | What it must answer | Often missing? |
|---|---|---|
| Living trusts | Who needs one, what's included, how funding works, fee | Funding and fee |
| Wills | When a will is enough, guardians for kids, fee | "When a will is enough" |
| Trust vs. will | An honest comparison for your state | Usually absent |
| Packages & fees | What each tier includes and costs, what's extra | Usually absent |
| Our process | Number of meetings, timeline, what happens at signing | Often vague |
| Probate / trust administration | What an executor or trustee should do first | Usually present but thin |
| Attorney bio | Who you'll meet, background, why planning | Present, often generic |
| What to bring | Documents and information checklist | Rare, very useful |
The "packages and fees" page is the one most firms resist and the one that often does the most work. Flat-fee planning is a product, and buyers compare products. Our guide to presenting flat-fee estate planning packages online covers how to show tiers without turning your practice into a price list.
What Goes Above the Fold
The first screen of a planning firm's homepage should say what you do, where, for whom, and how to start. A workable version:
- Headline: "Wills, Trusts & Probate for [City] Families"
- One supporting line: "Flat-fee planning packages. Meet with an attorney, not a salesperson."
- Two buttons: "Schedule a Consultation" and "See Our Packages"
- Phone number, large
- A real photo of the attorney
Below that, a short "Trust or will?" teaser and three to five recent reviews that mention clarity and patience. Then your services. Keep the homepage short. The service pages do the explaining.
Writing for Couples and Families
Most estate plans are bought by two people, and your copy should talk to both of them. Use "you and your spouse" or "you and your partner." Address the questions couples argue about: who should be guardian, whether to treat children from a prior marriage equally, whether to leave money outright or in trust.
Adult children are the other audience. A short page called "Helping a Parent Plan" or "When Your Parent Needs Help" catches people who are searching on someone else's behalf, which is common in probate and elder law.
Avoid words that sound like death is imminent ("before it's too late"). Planning clients are mostly healthy and putting this off because it's unpleasant. Language like "get it done and stop worrying about it" lands better than fear.
Does your site make couples want to book?
We'll review your estate planning site for readability, page structure and conversion paths and send you a prioritized fix list.
Booking Forms and Calls
Keep the consultation form short: name, phone, email, best time to reach you, and one optional question such as "What would you like help with?" A dropdown for "New plan / Update existing plan / Probate / Help for a parent" helps your intake team prepare.
Don't ask for net worth, account details or health information on a public web form. Prospects hesitate to type those into a website, and that information belongs in a secure intake questionnaire after the appointment is booked.
One question worth adding: "Will your spouse or partner attend the consultation?" It sets expectations early, and you'll see why in our guide to turning planning consultations into signed clients.
Online scheduling works for many couples who compare calendars in the evening. Offer it, but keep the phone number just as prominent.
If you're starting fresh or rebuilding, our attorney website design service builds planning sites around this structure, and for paid traffic, dedicated law firm landing pages usually convert better than the main site. For how the pages help you rank, see the estate planning attorney SEO guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
At minimum: a page for each service (living trusts, wills, powers of attorney, probate, trust administration), an honest trust-versus-will comparison, a packages and fees page, a clear description of your process, a real attorney bio with a photo, and a simple way to call or book. A "what to bring" checklist is rare and helps prospects feel ready to schedule.
Many planning firms benefit from showing flat-fee packages or starting fees, because buyers compare options and often won't call a firm that hides pricing. Make sure each published fee reflects a package you regularly sell and explain what's included and what costs extra. Check your state bar's rules on fee advertising before publishing.
Use larger body text (around 18px or more), strong color contrast, big buttons and a visible phone number on every page. Avoid auto-playing video and pop-up chat windows that cover content. Test pages with browser text enlarged, and keep navigation simple so visitors can find services without hunting through menus.
A blog helps if it answers real, state-specific questions clients ask, such as how to avoid probate or how to choose a guardian, and an attorney reviews each article. A handful of accurate, useful pieces linked from your service pages usually does more than frequent generic posts written to fill a calendar.