Setting up a trust typically costs between $1,000 and $3,000 for a basic revocable living trust drafted by an attorney, and $3,000 to $10,000 or more for irrevocable or tax-focused trusts. The total cost to set up a trust also includes funding expenses like deed recording, notarization, and account retitling, plus ongoing fees if you use a professional trustee or need annual tax returns. Online services can bring the drafting price down to roughly $150 to $550, but you take on more of the work and the risk yourself.
What Changes the Price
Complexity is the biggest driver. A revocable living trust for a married couple with a house, a few bank accounts, and one or two beneficiaries is simpler than an irrevocable trust designed to remove assets from your taxable estate. Irrevocable trusts have to satisfy specific Internal Revenue Code requirements. For instance, the person who creates the trust generally cannot keep the power to change it or take back the assets, or the IRS may still count those assets as part of the taxable estate.1Internal Revenue Service. Abusive Trust Tax Evasion Schemes – Questions and Answers That precision takes more legal work and raises the fee.
Custom provisions add to the bill too. A spendthrift clause that shields a beneficiary’s inheritance from creditors, instructions for running a family business, or language covering intellectual property all require tailored drafting. More beneficiaries means a more detailed distribution schedule and more attorney time. Geography matters as well. Lawyers in major metro areas generally charge more than those in smaller markets.
Estate size can push the price up sharply. The federal basic exclusion amount for 2026 is $15,000,000 per person, so estates below that threshold generally owe no federal estate tax.2Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026 If your estate approaches or exceeds that figure, a trust built to minimize estate tax requires careful language to satisfy IRS rules, and that sophistication costs more.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 2010 – Unified Credit Against Estate Tax
Attorney Fees for Drafting a Trust
Most estate planning attorneys offer flat-fee packages, which gives you a clear total up front. A basic revocable living trust package, including the trust document, a pour-over will, and powers of attorney, usually runs about $1,000 to $3,000. More involved work, such as irrevocable trusts, multi-generational wealth transfers, or estate tax planning, often starts around $3,000 to $5,000 and can reach $10,000 or more depending on the hours involved.
Some attorneys bill hourly instead. Hourly rates for estate planning lawyers typically fall between $250 and $500, with higher figures in high-cost cities. Initial consultations may cost $150 to $500, and some firms credit that payment against the full project if you hire them. Your bill may also include paralegal time for administrative work like gathering account information or preparing deeds, usually at a lower hourly rate.
Online and DIY Trust Prices
If your situation is straightforward, with one property, standard bank accounts, and a simple beneficiary setup, online document services are much cheaper. Basic trust packages from the major platforms run roughly $150 to $550. Some well-known services price a basic living trust around $400, with premium packages that include additional documents around $550. These platforms use questionnaires to populate pre-built legal templates.
A few subscription-based legal services include trust preparation in a monthly plan of $20 to $60, which also bundles attorney consultations. A handful of jurisdictions offer free statutory trust forms, but those forms are limited and do not allow for the custom contingency planning you get in an attorney-drafted document.
The tradeoff is real. Online tools handle routine situations well, but they put the burden on you to execute the document correctly under your state’s law and to actually move your assets into the trust afterward. A trust that exists on paper but doesn’t hold the assets it is supposed to control gives you no benefit at all.
Prices for Specialized Trust Types
Not every trust is priced the same way. Certain types require specialized knowledge that pushes the fee above a standard revocable living trust.
- Irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT): removes life insurance proceeds from your taxable estate and requires careful drafting to avoid IRS inclusion rules. Expect $2,000 to $5,000 or more.
- Special needs trust: provides for a disabled beneficiary without jeopardizing eligibility for Medicaid or Supplemental Security Income. Attorney fees typically run $3,000 to $5,000 because the trust must comply with both federal benefit rules and state law.
- Medicaid asset protection trust: an irrevocable trust that shelters assets from Medicaid spend-down rules. Costs range from about $2,000 to $7,000 depending on the number of properties and accounts and whether both spouses need protection.
- Charitable remainder trust: lets you donate assets to charity while keeping an income stream during your lifetime, with potential tax benefits. These involve complex tax calculations and typically cost $5,000 to $10,000 to set up.
Funding Costs After the Trust Is Drafted
Drafting is only half the job. You also have to fund the trust by retitling your assets in its name, and each type of asset carries its own cost.
Real Estate
Moving a house or other real property into your trust requires drafting a new deed, usually a quitclaim or warranty deed, and recording it with your county’s land records office. Recording fees vary widely, from under $20 to over $100 per document depending on the county’s fee structure, number of pages, and local surcharges. If the property has not had a recent title search, confirming no surprise liens exist typically runs $150 to $400.
Financial Accounts and Vehicles
Banks and brokerage firms sometimes charge a small administrative fee, often $25 to $100, to retitle an account in the trust’s name. Transferring a vehicle title through your state’s motor vehicle agency generally runs $15 to $85, and some states charge nothing when the transfer is between you and your own trust.
Tax Identification Number
A revocable living trust usually uses your own Social Security number while you are alive and serving as trustee. Irrevocable trusts, and revocable trusts that become irrevocable at your death, need their own Employer Identification Number. The IRS issues an EIN at no charge, and you can apply online in minutes.4Internal Revenue Service. Employer Identification Number
Notarization
Trust documents require notarized signatures. In-person notary fees are set by state law and run $2 to $25 per signature in most states. Remote online notarization, available in a growing number of states, may cost slightly more, up to about $30 per signature.
Ongoing Costs Once the Trust Exists
Trust costs do not end with the initial paperwork. How much you pay each year depends on whether you manage the trust yourself or hire a professional trustee.
Professional Trustee Fees
If you name a bank or trust company as trustee, expect an annual management fee based on a percentage of the trust’s total asset value. These fees commonly range from about 0.5% to 1.5% per year, often on a tiered schedule where the percentage drops as the portfolio grows. Many corporate trustees also charge a minimum annual fee of $3,000 to $5,000, so smaller trusts pay a proportionally higher cost. Independent professional fiduciaries not affiliated with a bank may bill hourly instead.
Tax Return Preparation
Trusts that have to file IRS Form 1041 incur annual preparation fees. According to IRS estimates, the average cost of preparing Form 1041 is roughly $1,300 for a simple trust and about $2,000 for a complex trust, though actual fees vary with the trust’s tax situation, geographic location, and the preparer used.5Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1041 and Schedules A, B, G, J, and K-1
Trustee Bonds
Some trust instruments or court orders require the trustee to obtain a surety bond, which protects beneficiaries against trustee mismanagement. Annual premiums typically run 0.5% to 1% of the bond amount, with higher rates on smaller bonds. If the trust document waives the bond, as many do when a family member serves, this cost disappears.
Periodic Legal Reviews
Changes in tax law, family circumstances, or asset values can leave parts of a trust outdated. A review with an attorney every few years keeps the document working as intended. An appointment and minor updates typically cost a few hundred dollars up to around $1,000 depending on what needs to change.
Changing a Trust Later
Revocable trusts can be changed any time you are alive and competent, and the cost depends on how extensive the changes are. A simple amendment, such as updating a successor trustee, swapping a beneficiary, or adjusting a distribution percentage, commonly runs $300 to $750. When changes are large enough that patching the original document would create confusion, an attorney may recommend restating the entire trust. A restatement replaces the trust terms while keeping the original trust in place, which avoids having to re-transfer all your assets. Restatements typically cost $1,500 to $3,000 or more.
Irrevocable trusts, by definition, generally cannot be amended by the person who created them. Modifying one usually requires a court proceeding or the consent of all beneficiaries, which adds significant legal cost.
How the Price Compares to Probate
One reason people pay for a trust is to avoid probate, the court-supervised process for distributing a deceased person’s assets. Probate costs vary by state and generally include court filing fees, attorney fees, executor or personal representative fees, and appraisal costs. In many states, probate attorney and executor fees are calculated as a percentage of the estate’s total value, often 2% to 5% combined for moderate-sized estates.
On a $500,000 estate, probate costs of 3% to 5% work out to $15,000 to $25,000, substantially more than the one-time cost of creating and funding a trust. Probate also takes time, often six months to over a year, during which beneficiaries may have limited access to inherited assets. A properly funded trust avoids probate entirely for the assets it holds, passes those assets without court involvement, and keeps the details out of the public record.
The comparison is not purely financial. A trust requires upfront effort to fund, because every asset has to be retitled or assigned to it. If you create a trust and never move your assets into it, those assets will still go through probate. A pour-over will, which directs any remaining assets into your trust at death, provides a safety net but still triggers probate for whatever it catches.
Ways to Keep the Cost Down
You do not have to choose between a fully custom attorney-drafted trust and a bare-bones online template. A few strategies can keep the price reasonable without sacrificing quality.
- Organize before your appointment. Walking in with a complete list of assets, account numbers, beneficiary names, and your goals already written down cuts the billable time spent gathering information.
- Ask for a flat-fee arrangement rather than hourly billing. Flat fees protect you from cost overruns caused by extra rounds of revision.
- Handle simple transfers yourself. You can retitle bank and brokerage accounts by contacting each institution directly, and you can apply for an EIN through the IRS website at no cost.4Internal Revenue Service. Employer Identification Number
- Name a family trustee. Choosing a trusted family member instead of a bank eliminates the annual percentage-based management fee. You can still name a corporate trustee as a backup.
- Bundle documents. Many attorneys offer package pricing for a living trust, pour-over will, financial power of attorney, and healthcare directive together, and the bundle is almost always cheaper than drafting each one separately.