Did someone say a trust avoids probate? Learn its price next to what probate can cost.
How Much Does a Living Trust Cost? Online Prices, Funding Costs and Lawyer Fees
Compare the online list prices below, add the cost of moving your house and accounts into the trust, then use the free calculator under the quick answer to see what probate would charge on the same estate in your state.
Quick answer
On October 14, 2026, three online services listed a revocable living trust package for one person at $149 to $549: Nolo's Quicken WillMaker $149, LegalZoom $399 to $549 and Trust & Will $499. Funding the trust adds costs such as recording a new deed; California caps the base recording fee at $10 for the first page and $3 for each added page, before other county fees. What lawyers charge to draft one is not published by any state bar, court or government page we read.
Free tool
The probate half of your comparison: enter the estate value in this free calculator to see the statutory fee in your state.
Choose your state and enter an estate value to learn the attorney and executor fees its statute sets, tier by tier, or the rule where it sets no schedule, and the state's small-estate limit, each with its source.
By the Legal Cost by State Editorial Team·Last updated and source-checked October 14, 2026
What to do next
Three things you can do before you buy a trust.
1
List what you own and who holds the title to each item
A trust only controls what is retitled into it: a house needs a new deed, each account its own form, and anything left out passes under the pour-over will, through probate.
2
Get the county recorder's fee for a new deed
California caps the base fee by the page and lets counties add other charges; the funding section below has the figure, and the recorder's own schedule has your county's.
3
Run the probate calculator on the same estate value
The free calculator gives you the other side of the comparison: what the executor and the lawyer could be paid under your state's rule if the estate went through probate instead.
What online services list for a living trust
Each figure below was read from the seller's published price list on October 14, 2026, and may have changed since. Naming a seller here does not endorse it.
Nolo's Quicken WillMaker: $149 (Plus) or $219 (All Access)
WillMaker's comparison table puts its trust price at $149, the Plus plan. The All Access plan lists at $219. Its revision window lasts a year, and another year of revisions lists at $39.99.
LegalZoom: $399 or $549 for one person
LegalZoom lists its Trust Estate Plan at $399 (Basic) and $549 (Premium) for one person, and $499 and $649 for a couple.
Trust & Will: $499 for one person
Trust & Will lists its Trust Plan at $499. The plan includes a pour-over will, a power of attorney, a living will, a schedule of assets and a certification of trust. Help from an attorney lists as a $299 add-on, and the yearly membership as $49.
Learn more. Tap a topic to open it.
Learn what a revocable trust is, who controls it and how it is taxed while you are alive.
A living trust is usually created by a written declaration in which you say you now hold your property as trustee (California Probate Code section 15200). You stay in control: in California a trust is revocable unless the document expressly makes it irrevocable (section 15400), and Arizona's trust code says the same and lets you revoke or amend by the method the trust sets out (A.R.S. 14-10602).
For federal income tax, a person who can take the trust property back is treated as its owner (26 U.S.C. 676), so a revocable trust does not change who is taxed on the income while you are alive. The point of the trust shows up at death: property titled in the trust passes under the trust's terms without a probate case.
Learn the deed recording and notary costs of moving your house into the trust.
For a house, funding means signing and recording a new deed. California caps the base county recording fee at $10 for the first page and $3 for each additional page (Government Code section 27361), and the same section lets recorders add certain other charges, so the total varies by county. A notary acknowledges the deed signature, and California caps that at $15 per signature (Government Code section 8211).
Moving a home into a revocable trust does not by itself trigger a new property tax assessment in California. The Revenue and Taxation Code excludes from a change in ownership any transfer into a trust while the person transferring it is the present beneficiary or the trust is revocable (section 62, subdivision (d)). Bank and investment accounts are retitled through each institution's own paperwork.
Anything left outside the trust passes under the pour-over will, through probate, so an unfunded trust can mean you pay for the trust and for probate.
Learn how lawyers quote trust work and why no price is printed here.
None of the state bar, court and government pages we read gives a price for a trust drafted by a lawyer, and we do not estimate one. Lawyers quote trust work either as one package price or as hourly time, and the scope behind two quotes can differ.
California requires a written fee contract, stating how the fee is figured, whenever the client's total cost will foreseeably top $1,000 (Bus. and Prof. Code section 6148). Ask whether the quote includes preparing and recording the deed, or only the trust document.
Learn how California's statutory probate fees compare with what a trust administration involves.
In California, the executor's pay and the executor's lawyer's fee each follow a statutory percentage of the gross estate, a mortgage included: 4 percent of the first $100,000, 3 percent of the next $100,000 and 2 percent of the next $800,000, with lower rates above that (Probate Code sections 10800 and 10810); a trust administration is not priced by that schedule. After a death, the trustee must serve a formal notice on the beneficiaries and heirs within 60 days (section 16061.7), and a contest is barred more than 120 days after that notice is served, or 60 days after a copy of the trust is delivered during that window, whichever is later (section 16061.8).
Our arithmetic: on a $500,000 California estate, the statutory schedule gives $13,000 to the executor and $13,000 to the lawyer, $26,000 in all, before court and appraisal costs. Most states do not use a percentage schedule, so this comparison is specific to California.
Learn what can raise or lower your trust's price, from a joint trust to later updates.
Single or joint trust
A joint trust for spouses costs more than one person's trust; LegalZoom's joint plans list $100 above its single plans.
How much real estate, and where
Every property means a deed to prepare and record. A house in another state can otherwise mean a second probate case where it sits.
How many accounts to retitle
Each bank or brokerage account is a separate form. It costs time, not usually a government fee, but a lawyer may bill for it.
Children and special situations
Holding money for minors, a beneficiary with a disability, or a family business takes custom drafting that the simplest packages do not cover.
Tax planning
Planning for federal estate tax takes more drafting than a basic revocable trust.
Updates
Marriages, divorces, births and moves call for amendments. Online services price some extras by the year, and a lawyer may charge for every amendment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Tap a question to see the answer.
Only for property titled in the trust or payable to it. Anything left in your own name passes under your will, which goes through probate unless the estate is small enough for a simpler procedure.
LegalZoom's joint plans listed at $499 (Basic) and $649 (Premium) on October 14, 2026. Prices move, so confirm on the seller's site before buying.
Not because of the transfer itself. California excludes transfers into a revocable trust, or a trust of which you are the present beneficiary, from the definition of a change in ownership (Revenue and Taxation Code section 62, subdivision (d)).
Not while you can revoke it. Under 26 U.S.C. 676 the person who can take the property back is treated as the owner of the trust for income tax purposes.
Yes, if it is revocable. California treats a trust as revocable unless the document says otherwise (Probate Code section 15400), and Arizona lets you revoke or amend by the method the trust sets out (A.R.S. 14-10602).
It depends on the state and the estate. In California, our arithmetic on the statutory schedules gives $26,000 in executor and lawyer fees on a $500,000 estate; where the fee must be reasonable instead, the probate side depends on the hours.
Recording fees are set by state and county. California caps the base fee at $10 for the first page and $3 for each added page (Government Code section 27361), and counties may add other charges allowed by law.
Yes. The successor trustee has work to do and may hire help. In California the trustee must serve a formal notice after the death (Probate Code section 16061.7). What trustees or their lawyers charge for that work is not published by the state.
Information on this page reflects laws and published figures as of October 14, 2026. This is general information, not legal advice, and not a prediction for any matter. Rules and fees change; check the court or agency page linked for each figure.
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