Legally, you can start a trust with a single dollar. Practically, the money you need to start a trust is closer to $1,500 to $5,000 in attorney fees for a standard revocable living trust, plus a few hundred dollars in smaller setup costs and ongoing annual expenses that only make sense once the trust holds enough assets to justify them. The trust document itself has almost no minimum; the surrounding costs are what decide whether a trust is worth creating at all.
The Legal Minimum to Fund a Trust
A trust becomes legally valid once it holds property. That property, called the trust corpus or res, can be ten dollars, a single share of stock, or any other asset that gives the trust something to hold. Without at least one funded asset, the document exists but has no legal effect.
So the question of how much you need to start a trust splits in two. One number is what the law requires, which is essentially nothing. The other is what you’ll spend to have the trust drafted, set up, and run over time. That second number is where the real planning lives.
Attorney Fees for a Standard Living Trust
A basic revocable living trust drafted by an attorney typically runs between $1,500 and $3,000 for an individual and somewhat more for a married couple. That fee usually covers the trust document itself, a pour-over will that catches any assets you forget to transfer, and powers of attorney for finances and healthcare. Some attorneys bundle these into a flat-rate estate planning package; others bill hourly at rates between $250 and $450 depending on the market.
The low end of that range gets you a fairly straightforward trust for someone with a simple family structure and standard assets like a home, bank accounts, and retirement savings. Add complexity, and the cost climbs toward $5,000 or higher. Blended families, real estate in multiple states, business interests, and conditional distributions all push the bill up. Attorneys in major metropolitan areas tend to charge more than those in smaller markets, sometimes significantly.
Online Trust Services
If your situation is genuinely simple, online legal platforms offer trust creation packages ranging from about $250 to $1,000. These services walk you through a questionnaire and generate documents based on your answers. Some include attorney review; others don’t. You save money upfront but lose the personalized advice that catches problems before they become expensive.
Online platforms work best for people with modest estates, no complicated beneficiary situations, and a willingness to handle the asset transfer process themselves. If you own property in multiple states, have a child with special needs, or want to build in tax planning, the savings from an online service usually aren’t worth the risk.
Specialized and Irrevocable Trusts Cost More
Irrevocable trusts cost more because they do more, and because drafting mistakes can’t easily be undone. A basic irrevocable trust starts around $2,000 to $5,000 in attorney fees. More specialized structures push well beyond that:
- Irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT): $3,000 to $6,000 to set up, plus $250 to $1,000 annually for the required Crummey notice letters that keep premium payments eligible for the gift tax exclusion.
- Special needs trust: $3,000 to $7,000 or more, because the drafting has to preserve the beneficiary’s eligibility for government benefits while still providing supplemental support.
- Medicaid asset protection trust: $5,000 to $10,000 or higher, reflecting both the complexity of Medicaid rules and the five-year lookback period that makes timing critical.
These aren’t documents where cutting corners saves money. An ILIT with a defective Crummey provision can cause the entire life insurance benefit to land in your taxable estate, which is exactly what the trust was meant to prevent.
Other Setup Costs to Budget For
Beyond the attorney’s bill, several smaller costs stack up during the trust creation process.
Notary Fees
Trust documents require notarization, and most states cap notary fees between $2 and $25 per signature. A typical signing involves multiple documents, so expect $10 to $50 total. Remote online notarization, now widely available, often carries higher allowed fees than in-person notarization.
Recording Fees for Real Estate
If you’re transferring real property into the trust, you’ll need to record a new deed with your county recorder’s office. Recording fees vary but generally fall between $50 and $150 per deed. Counties that charge by the page may cost more if your deed runs long. Property in multiple counties or states means paying recording fees in each one.
Transferring property into your own revocable trust generally does not trigger transfer taxes or documentary stamp taxes, because you’re not changing beneficial ownership. A handful of jurisdictions handle this differently, so confirm with your attorney before recording.
Employer Identification Number
Revocable trusts typically use your Social Security number for tax purposes while you’re alive and serving as trustee. Once the trust becomes irrevocable, either by design or because the grantor dies, it needs its own Employer Identification Number. Applying through the IRS is free and takes minutes online.1Internal Revenue Service. Employer Identification Number You can also apply by fax or mail using Form SS-4.2Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form SS-4 Third-party websites that charge fees for this service are just filling out the same free IRS form on your behalf.
Funding the Trust With Real Assets
The dollar amount you actually move into the trust matters more than the legal minimum. This is where most estate plans quietly fail. An unfunded trust, one that was properly drafted but never received the assets it was supposed to hold, doesn’t avoid probate, doesn’t protect anything, and doesn’t distribute according to your wishes. Assets left outside the trust will go through probate anyway, even if you have a pour-over will directing them into the trust eventually. The pour-over will just ensures they end up in the trust after probate concludes, which defeats the point of avoiding probate in the first place.
Funding means retitling bank accounts, brokerage accounts, and real estate in the name of the trust. It means updating beneficiary designations where appropriate. It’s tedious administrative work, and it’s the step that separates an estate plan that works from one that doesn’t.
Ongoing Costs You’ll Pay Every Year
Trustee Fees
Naming a family member as trustee costs nothing upfront, though it does place a real burden on that person. Professional trustees are the alternative, and they come with minimums. Most bank trust departments require at least $500,000 in investable assets before they’ll take on a trust, and larger firms set their floor higher. In exchange, corporate trustees charge annual fees of roughly 1% to 1.5% of assets under management. On a $1,000,000 trust, that’s $10,000 to $15,000 per year.
Independent professional fiduciaries are another option. These licensed individuals typically charge hourly rates of $175 to $400 or a percentage of trust assets, often around 1% to 1.25% annually. Their minimums tend to be lower than bank trust departments, making them a more realistic choice for trusts in the $250,000 to $500,000 range.
Annual Tax Filing
A trust that earns more than $600 in gross income during the year must file IRS Form 1041, the federal income tax return for estates and trusts.3Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1041 and Schedules A, B, G, J, and K-1 The return is due by April 15 for trusts on a calendar tax year.4Internal Revenue Service. Forms 1041 and 1041-A When to File The filing also generates Schedule K-1 forms for each beneficiary, reporting their share of trust income on their personal returns.
Having an accountant prepare Form 1041 typically costs between $500 and $1,500 per year, depending on complexity and the number of income sources. Trusts with rental properties, business interests, or capital gains from investment portfolios land at the higher end. This is an annual cost that continues for the life of the trust. Missing the filing deadline triggers a penalty of 5% of any unpaid tax for each month the return is late, up to a maximum of 25%, with interest on top.5Internal Revenue Service. Failure to File Penalty
Compressed Trust Tax Brackets
Trusts reach the highest federal income tax bracket far faster than individuals do. For 2026, trust income hits the 37% top rate at just $16,000. An individual doesn’t get there until income exceeds roughly $626,000. Any income the trust retains gets taxed aggressively, which is why most trusts are better off distributing income to beneficiaries, who almost certainly face lower marginal rates. Income that flows out is taxed on the beneficiary’s return, not the trust’s. Active tax planning by the trustee can save thousands of dollars a year by managing distribution timing.
When the Numbers Actually Work
All of these costs raise the real question: is a trust worth it for your situation? The answer depends heavily on what you own and where you live. Probate costs vary dramatically by state, ranging from modest flat fees in some jurisdictions to 2% to 7% of total assets in others. For someone with a $750,000 estate in a state with high probate costs, spending $3,000 on a trust to avoid $20,000 or more in probate fees and delays is an easy calculation.
Trusts also make sense when probate avoidance isn’t the primary goal. Controlling the timing of distributions to young beneficiaries, protecting assets from a beneficiary’s creditors or divorce, managing property in multiple states without opening probate in each one, and planning for incapacity all justify the cost on their own. A trust with $100,000 in assets and a family member serving as trustee has low ongoing costs and can still accomplish things a will cannot. A trust with the same $100,000 and a corporate trustee charging $1,500 a year will be eaten alive by fees within a generation. Matching the trust structure to your actual assets is where the real planning happens.