Living Trust Cost in 2026: From $399 Published vs the Probate Fees Six State Laws Set
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Quick Answer
As of November 12, 2026, living trust packages are published at $399 to $549 for one person at LegalZoom, from $499 at Trust & Will and $575 at one California law office, while a provider that cites a study of 909 law firms puts the median attorney-drafted trust at $2,475 (its claim, not ours). Against that, six state statutes set the probate attorney's fee as a percentage of the estate. On a $1,000,000 probate estate the schedules give (our arithmetic) $23,000 in California (Probate Code 10810), $30,000 in Florida (Statutes 733.6171, presumed reasonable, not mandatory), $26,550 in Missouri (473.153, a minimum) and in Arkansas (28-48-108), $20,120 in Iowa (633.198, a ceiling) and $20,350 in Wyoming (2-7-804). Montana is not on the list: its statute says only “reasonable compensation,” and its old fee section was repealed in 2019. The statutory fee reaches $2,475 once the probate estate passes about $62,000 in California, $70,000 in Florida, $72,500 in Missouri and Arkansas, $106,000 in Wyoming and $118,000 in Iowa (our arithmetic). The schedule only applies to what goes through probate: a $250,000 IRA with a named beneficiary does not, and a house a trust holds does not either.
Key Takeaways
- Published prices on November 12, 2026: LegalZoom Basic Trust $399 and Premium Trust $549 for one person, $499 and $649 for a couple; Trust & Will Trust Plan from $499 and an attorney match from $1,499; one California law office $575 single and $675 for a couple. These are each provider's own claims.
- Six statutes set a percentage fee for the estate's lawyer: California 10810 (4 percent of the first $100,000 down to 0.5 percent), Florida 733.6171 (3 percent after a $3,000 base, presumed reasonable), Missouri 473.153 and Arkansas 28-48-108 (5 percent down to 2 percent), Iowa 633.198 (ceiling of 2 percent above $5,000) and Wyoming 2-7-804 (2 percent above $20,000).
- On a $1,000,000 probate estate the attorney schedule is $20,120 to $30,000; on $2,000,000 it is $33,000 in California and $55,000 in Florida (our arithmetic). These are the ordinary-services numbers, before extraordinary fees and court costs.
- The base matters: California counts appraised value “without reference to encumbrances or other obligations on estate property”; Missouri counts personal property and real property only if the court sells it; Arkansas counts real and personal property.
- A trust still has costs: the deed that moves the house (Cook County, Illinois charges $107 to record a deed), retitling accounts, and a trustee's pay after death (see our page on executor and trustee fees).
CSV · 91 rows
Living trust and will prices published by named providers, and the probate attorney-fee schedules in the statutes of six states, read on November 12, 2026
91 rows: the tiers of six state statutes with their section numbers and bases, the Montana rule, 14 published prices with dates, the State Bar of Texas 2025 median hourly rate, one recording fee, and our arithmetic at four estate sizes.
What providers publish for a will and a trust
Everything in this table is the seller's own price, read from its web page on November 12, 2026 (except the Neptune study, dated July 8, 2026). We did not buy any of them and cannot say what a given state or a given asset list changes at checkout.
| Provider | Product | Published price | What the page says |
|---|---|---|---|
| LegalZoom | Basic Will, one person | $129 | Will estate plans “start at $129”; Premium Will $299 |
| LegalZoom | Basic Trust, one person | $399 | Living trust, pour-over will, healthcare directive, financial power of attorney, certificate of trust |
| LegalZoom | Premium Trust, one person | $549 | Adds unlimited 30 minute attorney consultations for 1 year, renewing at $199 a year |
| LegalZoom | Basic and Premium Trust, couple | $499 and $649 | Same documents for two people |
| Trust & Will | Will Plan | from $199 | Will, healthcare and power of attorney documents |
| Trust & Will | Trust Plan | from $499 | Revocable living trust, pour-over will, certification of trust, schedule of assets |
| Trust & Will | Attorney match, complex needs | from $1,499 | For special-needs children, estates of $15 million or more, businesses with 3 or more employees, blended families |
| Rozsa Gyene law office, California | Trust package | $575 one person, $675 couple | A law office's own advertised flat fee (page dated November 23, 2025, updated October 11, 2026) |
| Neptune (provider blog) | Median attorney-drafted revocable trust | $2,475 | Cites a study of 909 law firms; says typical attorney-drafted trusts cost $1,500 to $3,000 and the median will is $625 |
Two cautions. The $2,475 and $625 figures come from a company that sells estate-planning services, who cites a study we could not see; we show them as its claim. And no official source we found publishes a national price for a trust: the State Bar of Texas 2025 Income and Hourly Rate Report gives a median of $368 an hour for full-time private practitioners across all fields, from 6,363 respondents, with no estate-planning line in the text we read. At $368 an hour, $2,475 is about 6.7 hours of a Texas median lawyer's time (our arithmetic).
What six statutes set for the probate lawyer
California, Florida, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa and Wyoming state a percentage schedule for the attorney who handles the estate. They differ in what the number means: a ceiling, a presumption, a minimum, or a default that a contract can replace.
| State and section | What the schedule is | Tiers | What it is applied to |
|---|---|---|---|
| California, Probate Code 10810 (executor: 10800) | Fee “for ordinary services”; same tiers for the personal representative | 4% of first $100,000; 3% of next $100,000; 2% of next $800,000; 1% of next $9,000,000; 0.5% of next $15,000,000 | Inventory appraisal plus gains, receipts, less losses, “without reference to encumbrances” |
| Florida, Statutes 733.6171(3) (executor: 733.617) | Presumed reasonable if based on the schedule; the statute says there is “not a mandatory statutory attorney fee” | $1,500 up to $40,000; +$750 to $70,000; +$750 to $100,000; 3% of next $900,000; 2.5% to $3 million; 2% to $5 million; 1.5% to $10 million; 1% above | Inventory value of probate assets plus income earned |
| Missouri, 473.153(3) | Minimum, equal to the personal representative's schedule; the court may allow more | 5% of first $5,000; 4% of next $20,000; 3% of next $75,000; 2.75% of next $300,000; 2.5% of next $600,000; 2% above $1,000,000 | Personal property administered plus proceeds of real property sold under court order |
| Arkansas, 28-48-108(d) | Fee unless otherwise contracted; the court may substitute a fee if the schedule is excessive or insufficient | Same tiers as Missouri | Total market value of the real and personal property reportable in circuit court |
| Iowa, 633.198 with 633.197 | Reasonable fee set by the court, not above the personal representative schedule | 6% of first $1,000; 4% to $5,000; 2% above $5,000 | Gross assets listed in the probate inventory (life insurance excluded unless payable to the estate) |
| Wyoming, 2-7-804 (executor: 2-7-803) | Court shall allow it unless the attorney waives; the parties may negotiate lower | 10% of first $1,000; 5% to $5,000; 3% to $20,000; 2% above $20,000 | Probate estate accounted for: inventory value, adjusted for sales and accretions |
Montana is not in the table because it has no percentage schedule. Montana Code 72-3-631 says a personal representative “is entitled to reasonable compensation for services,” and 72-3-633 shows as repealed by chapter 313 of the 2019 laws.
Nevada, New York, Maryland, Georgia and North Carolina also have fee rules for executors, which our page on executor and trustee fees by state covers; we did not re-read their attorney provisions for this page, so they are not in the tables below.
Probate fees against the trust price, on three estate sizes
The table gives the statutory attorney fee on a probate estate worth $500,000, $1,000,000 and $2,000,000, all of it in the decedent's own name. It is not the fee anyone will necessarily pay: California's schedule is what the statute allows for ordinary services, Florida's is a presumption that the client and lawyer may replace by agreement, Missouri's is a floor, Iowa's a ceiling.
| State | Probate estate $500,000 | $1,000,000 | $2,000,000 | Nature of the number |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California (10810) | $13,000 | $23,000 | $33,000 | Statutory, ordinary services |
| Florida (733.6171) | $15,000 | $30,000 | $55,000 | Presumed reasonable |
| Missouri (473.153) | $14,050 | $26,550 | $46,550 | Minimum |
| Arkansas (28-48-108) | $14,050 | $26,550 | $46,550 | Default unless contracted |
| Iowa (633.198) | $10,120 | $20,120 | $40,120 | Ceiling |
| Wyoming (2-7-804) | $10,350 | $20,350 | $40,350 | Allowed unless waived |
All figures are our arithmetic from the tiers. Against them, a trust costs $399 to $2,475 on the published prices above, plus a deed recording fee and the time it takes to retitle accounts (our arithmetic).
Where the statutory fee passes a trust's price. At the $2,475 median, the schedules reach that amount at a probate estate of about:
| State | Probate estate at which the statutory attorney fee reaches $2,475 | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| California | $61,875 | 4 percent of the first $100,000 |
| Florida | Just over $70,000 | The schedule steps from $2,250 to $3,000 at $70,000 |
| Missouri and Arkansas | $72,500 | Tiers of 5, 4 and 3 percent |
| Wyoming | $106,250 | Fee is $750 at $20,000, then 2 percent |
| Iowa | $117,750 | Fee is $220 at $5,000, then 2 percent |
Read it carefully. It says the schedule is large compared with the price of a trust for an estate of any size a reader with a house is likely to have. It does not say the fee will be charged: where a ceiling or a presumption applies, a smaller fee, a flat fee or hourly billing may replace it, and only Missouri words its schedule as a minimum. It also assumes the house and accounts would otherwise be in the probate estate.
A worked estate: what goes through probate and what does not
A $1,000,000 estate (our example, not a real one): a $500,000 house in the owner's name, a $150,000 brokerage account, $50,000 in a non-traded REIT bought through an advisor, $50,000 in checking, and a $250,000 IRA with a named beneficiary. The IRA passes by the beneficiary form, so the probate estate is $750,000 (our arithmetic; see beneficiary designations by account type).
| State | Statutory attorney fee on $750,000 | If the house is deeded to a trust and accounts retitled |
|---|---|---|
| California | $18,000 | Probate estate $0; no statutory fee on it |
| Florida | $22,500 | Probate estate $0 |
| Missouri | $20,300 if everything counts; $7,425 if only the $250,000 of personal property counts | Probate estate $0 |
| Arkansas | $20,300 | Probate estate $0 |
| Iowa | $15,120 ceiling | Probate estate $0 |
| Wyoming | $15,350 | Probate estate $0 |
The trust side costs $399 to $549 at the online prices, or $2,475 at the claimed attorney median, plus $107 to record one deed in Cook County, Illinois (its fee schedule effective April 1, 2024; fees elsewhere differ by county) (our arithmetic). If the REIT shares or the brokerage account are never retitled, they stay in the probate estate: that is the practical weak point of a trust, not its price. Our page on deeding real estate into a living trust covers the deed, and the one on what a pour-over will controls covers what the will still does. Non-traded REIT and BDC shares have their own transfer rules at death: see non-traded REIT and BDC death, disability and repurchase for heirs.
What a trust does not remove
- The deed and the retitling. One recorded deed per property, and each account and fund interest retitled by its own custodian or transfer agent.
- The trustee's pay. After death the person who runs the trust may be paid under the trust document or a state default; see executor and trustee fees by state.
- Out-of-state real estate. A rental in another state is its own probate unless it is in the trust; see probate for real estate by state.
- California's and Florida's own numbers. Our pages on California probate fees and Florida probate cost go through each state's full cost and timeline.
What a reader can do with this
- Find out what your state's statute says before you price a trust. If your state is one of the six, the schedule is a ceiling, a presumption or a minimum; if it is Montana or most other states, it is a reasonableness standard and the number depends on the lawyer.
- List what is in your own name (house, rental, brokerage, funds). The schedule runs on that list, and the beneficiary-form assets are outside it.
- Ask for a flat fee in writing that includes the deed and the funding steps, and ask what the lawyer charges in your county for probate if there is no trust.
- Treat a published price as a claim. The same $399 to $2,475 range covers different documents and different services.
This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice.
More for a family handling someone else's money: how executors get letters testamentary, with court fees; small estate affidavit limits by state; how long probate takes, from the creditor claim statutes; TOD and POD accounts, including non-traded REIT and BDC shares; financial power of attorney rules in 13 states; guardianship vs conservatorship under state law.
FAQ
Sources, read and saved on November 12, 2026: California Probate Code 10800 and 10810 (leginfo.legislature.ca.gov, Wayback capture); Florida Statutes 733.617 and 733.6171 (leg.state.fl.us); Missouri Revised Statutes 473.153 (revisor.mo.gov); Iowa Code 2026, 633.197 and 633.198 (legis.iowa.gov); Wyoming Statutes Title 2, 2-7-803 and 2-7-804 (wyoleg.gov); Arkansas Code 28-48-108 (codes.findlaw.com, current as of March 28, 2024); Montana Code Annotated 2025, 72-3-631 and 72-3-633 (leg.mt.gov); LegalZoom will and living trust pages and Trust & Will pricing page (read November 12, 2026); Rozsa Gyene law office blog (livingtrust-attorneys.com); Neptune trust cost guide (July 8, 2026); State Bar of Texas 2025 Income and Hourly Rate Report; Cook County Clerk recording fees (effective April 1, 2024). The 91-row CSV holds every figure above, and the worked examples are our arithmetic.
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