How do estate planning attorneys get clients from Facebook?

By explaining, on camera, the decisions people put off: who to name as executor, what a will does not cover, what happens without one in your state. Flat fees make the ad maths simple, and the ad never tells viewers their age.

Can I advertise a free estate planning seminar?

Yes, as long as it is free with no condition. The FTC has described trust sellers using seminars to reach homes and sell annuities, and its Cooling-Off Rule reaches sales of $130 or more made at a rented venue (whether that includes a law firm’s own engagement is not settled), so keep the seminar an education event.

Can an ad say a living trust avoids probate?

Only as far as that is true in the firm’s state. FTC orders against trust sellers required them to say trusts can be challenged like wills and may not suit everyone.

Can we run ads aimed at adult children of older parents?

Yes; the parent stays the client, and an ad cannot imply a parent’s illness. Meta rejects copy implying a family member’s health.

What does an estate planning lead cost on Facebook?

No published figure separates estate planning, so use the legal-services median: $104.58 a lead in WordStream by LocaliQ’s 2024 benchmarks.

Estate planning marketing for lawyers: what your Facebook ads can say

By Erik Jia, founder of Oak Reel · Updated November 4, 2026

An estate planning ad may be shown to older people but may not tell them they are old: Meta allows “Meet seniors” and rejects “Meet other seniors”. Add annuities, insurance or investing to a trust ad and Meta’s financial-product rules come into play. At the legal-services median, a lead costs $104.58 (2024).

Type your firm’s web address for three free sample video ads in its name.

Estate planning ads at a glance
Question	Short answer	Rule
Can the ad say “Are you over 65?”	No: Meta rejects copy that asserts the viewer’s age; “for seniors” is allowed	Meta personal attributes
Can the firm target people over 60?	Yes, unless Meta files the ad in a special category, which fixes ages at 18 to 65+	Meta Marketing API
Can a trust ad mention annuities or insurance?	It pulls the ad toward Meta’s financial rules; keep products out	Meta financial services policy
Are free seminar ads allowed?	Yes; a plan sold at a rented venue may fall under the FTC Cooling-Off Rule	16 CFR 429.0(a)
Can an adult child pay for a parent’s plan?	Yes, with the parent’s informed consent; the parent is the client	ABA Model Rule 1.8(f)

Estate planning advertising rules, quoted

Meta, the FTC and the bar each reach a different part of an estate planning ad. Every card quotes its source and the date it was read; the rules of your own state bar are the ones that apply to you.

What Meta rejects

Meta
Meta lets an ad name its audience but not tell viewers their age. “Meet seniors” is an allowed example; “Meet other seniors” and “Are you 18 years old?” are rejected. “Estate planning for retirees” passes; “Over 65?” does not.
“Meet other seniors”
Meta Advertising Standards: personal attributes, rejected example for age, read 2026-11-04
Meta
Meta rejects ads that imply someone in the viewer’s family is ill, so “Has Mom been diagnosed?” or “Dad showing signs of dementia?” is out. Explain what a power of attorney does instead.
“Don’t wait!! Get your spouse treated for cancer today with help from our medical experts.”
Meta Advertising Standards: personal attributes, rejected example for health, read 2026-11-04

Insurance, annuities and investments

Meta
If Meta files an ad under financial products and services, as it would an ad selling annuities or life insurance, age targeting is fixed at 18 to 65+ and ZIP codes are not allowed, so the ad can no longer be aimed at retirees.
“Options are generally fixed to include ages 18 through 65+ for housing, employment, and financial products and services ads.”
Meta Marketing API: special ad categories, read 2026-11-04
Meta
US ads may not promote investments, even as education, unless the advertiser is a verified brokerage or licensed adviser. An estate planning video stays on documents, not on where to invest.
“Promote any investment products or opportunities, including in the context of educational or informational content”
Meta Advertising Standards: financial and insurance products, investment restriction, read 2026-11-04
California
A California lawyer who also sells annuities, life or long-term care insurance to an older client must first give a separate signed disclosure of the commission, so a trust ad is no place to pitch an annuity.
“The disclosure states that the lawyer shall receive a commission and sets forth the amount of the commission”
California Business and Professions Code 6175.3(c), read 2026-11-04

Living trusts and seminars

FTC
The FTC charged living trust sellers with claiming a trust avoids all probate costs, cannot be challenged and suits everyone. An ad says what a trust does in the firm’s state, not that it always beats probate.
“misrepresented that a living trust avoids all probate and administrative costs”
FTC prepared statement on living trust scams, July 11, 2000, read 2026-11-04
FTC
A sale signed at a restaurant or hotel seminar, from $130, falls under the three-day right to cancel, and sellers must tell buyers orally and in writing. The FTC’s 2000 statement on living trust sales applied the rule to estate planning; whether it reaches a law firm’s own engagement is not settled.
“such as hotel or motel rooms, convention centers, fairgrounds and restaurants”
16 CFR 429.0(a), FTC Cooling-Off Rule, read 2026-11-04
Florida
Speaking at a seminar does not make attendees prior professional contacts, so a Florida lawyer cannot phone them afterward to sign them up. They call the firm, or it writes to them marked as an advertisement.
“a lawyer who speaks at a seminar does not develop a professional relationship”
Rules Regulating The Florida Bar 4-7.18, comment on prior professional relationship, read 2026-11-04
Texas
In Texas, preparing a will or trust is the practice of law, so only a lawyer may advertise to draft one. Form kits are legal only if they say plainly that they are no substitute for a lawyer.
“such as preparing a will, contract, or other instrument, the legal effect of which under the facts and conclusions involved must be carefully determined”
Texas Government Code 81.101(a), read 2026-11-04

Couples, families and executors

ABA model rule
A married couple’s wills can put the two spouses’ interests at odds. A couples’ plan ad is fine, but the firm explains at the first meeting that it represents both of them together.
“prepare wills for several family members, such as husband and wife, and, depending upon the circumstances, a conflict of interest may be present”
ABA Model Rule 1.7, comment [27], read 2026-11-04
ABA model rule
An ad may invite adult children to call about a parent’s plan, but the parent is the client. If a child pays, the parent must agree, and the lawyer’s judgment stays the parent’s.
“shall not accept compensation for representing a client from one other than the client unless: (1) the client gives informed consent”
ABA Model Rule 1.8(f), read 2026-11-04
Florida
A Florida lawyer named executor in a will the lawyer drafted is paid for serving only after giving the statutory disclosures, acknowledged in writing by the client, before the will is signed.
“is not entitled to compensation for serving as a personal representative if the attorney prepared or supervised the execution of the will”
Florida Statutes 733.617(8), read 2026-11-04

Credentials

Texas
In Texas, membership in a group whose name implies special skill, such as an “academy” or “college” of estate lawyers, may be advertised only if the Texas Board of Legal Specialization has accredited that group.
“a member of an organization the name of which implies that its members possess special competence”
Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct 7.02(b)(2), read 2026-11-04
ABA
The ABA-accredited private certifications for this work are Estate Planning Law (National Association of Estate Planners & Councils) and Elder Law (National Elder Law Foundation). Texas, Florida and California also certify estate lawyers themselves.
“National Association of Estate Planners & Councils Specialty Program: Estate Planning Law”
ABA Standing Committee on Specialization: accredited private programs, read 2026-11-04

What the marketing guides leave out

Oak Reel read 14 rules in 13 official texts on November 4, 2026. The estate planning marketing guides ranking that day talk about seminars and senior audiences without the rules that come with them. Three matter most. Meta draws its age line at the words, not the audience. The seminar model has an FTC history: trust sellers used free seminars to get into homes and sell annuities, which is why the Cooling-Off Rule and Meta’s financial rules sit close to any seminar ad. And Meta’s page defining its financial category would not load for reading on that date, so whether a trust ad alone lands there is not settled; leaving products out of the ad avoids the question.

What one new estate plan costs in Facebook ads

Most estate plans are sold for a flat fee, which makes this the simplest ad math in law: compare the ad cost of one signed plan with the fee for it. At $104.58 a lead:

4 leads per signed plan: $418
6 leads per signed plan: $627
10 leads per signed plan: $1,046

Attorneys and legal services, median of US lead campaigns, WordStream by LocaliQ, 2024. No published Meta figure separates estate planning; the ratios are examples to set against your own records.

A couple’s plan that includes trusts usually carries the larger fee, so a firm can afford more leads per signed plan there than for a simple will. Try your own fee in the cost calculator.

Six estate planning ad ideas that keep to the rules

All six come from one 20 to 30-minute phone session with the attorney; each hook passes Oak Reel’s ad checker.

1
“What happens to a house when someone dies without a will in our state”
The attorney explains the state’s order of inheritance for a home when there is no will, why the result often surprises spouses and stepchildren, and what a simple will changes.
It speaks about “someone”, not the viewer, so it implies no age, illness or family situation.
2
“Will or living trust: what each one does, and what neither can do”
The attorney compares the two, says when a trust avoids probate in the state and when it does not, and notes that either one can be challenged.
The FTC charged trust sellers with claiming a trust avoids all probate and cannot be challenged; this ad says the opposite plainly.
3
“What probate involves in our county, and when it is short”
The attorney describes the steps and usual timeline in the local probate court, and the simplified process the state allows for small estates.
The FTC warned against portraying probate as necessarily long and expensive; naming the small-estate shortcut keeps the ad accurate.
4
“Three papers besides a will, and what each one lets someone do”
The attorney explains a durable power of attorney, a health care directive and a medical records release: who each one empowers, and what happens without them.
Addressed to all adults, so it neither tells viewers their age nor implies anyone in their family is ill.
5
“Who can serve as executor, and how they are paid”
The attorney explains who the state allows to serve, how executors are paid, and that if a client asks the firm to serve, it gives the disclosures the state requires first.
Florida pays a drafting lawyer for serving as executor only after disclosures made before the will is signed; the ad shows the firm keeps that rule.
6
“How we plan for couples, and the one thing we cannot keep between them”
The attorney explains that the firm represents both spouses together, that what one tells the lawyer about the plan is not kept from the other, and when separate lawyers make sense.
ABA Rule 1.7’s comments flag a possible conflict in a couple’s wills and say privilege does not attach between joint clients; the ad sets that expectation before anyone books.

Ads made from your own attorney

Oak Reel edits the footage into a month of Facebook and Instagram ads that run from your firm’s ad account after you approve each one. The fee is fixed at $2,500 a month and never moves with the number of plans signed. The law firm page covers other practice areas.

Not a fit: firms that sell annuities or insurance alongside plans and want those in the ads. That is Meta’s financial category and a different set of rules.

Make sample ads for my firm

Questions estate planning firms ask

How do estate planning attorneys get clients from Facebook?: By explaining, on camera, the decisions people put off: who to name as executor, what a will does not cover, what happens without one in your state. Flat fees make the ad maths simple, and the ad never tells viewers their age.
Can I advertise a free estate planning seminar?: Yes, as long as it is free with no condition. The FTC has described trust sellers using seminars to reach homes and sell annuities, and its Cooling-Off Rule reaches sales of $130 or more made at a rented venue (whether that includes a law firm’s own engagement is not settled), so keep the seminar an education event.
Can an ad say a living trust avoids probate?: Only as far as that is true in the firm’s state. FTC orders against trust sellers required them to say trusts can be challenged like wills and may not suit everyone.
Can we run ads aimed at adult children of older parents?: Yes; the parent stays the client, and an ad cannot imply a parent’s illness. Meta rejects copy implying a family member’s health.
What does an estate planning lead cost on Facebook?: No published figure separates estate planning, so use the legal-services median: $104.58 a lead in WordStream by LocaliQ’s 2024 benchmarks.