The Estate Planning Guide Est. 2026

How Much Does a Living Trust Cost in Florida?

By The Estate Planning Guide Editorial Team Researched against primary sources

Published June 11, 2026 8 min read

Quick answer

An attorney-drafted living trust in Florida typically costs $1,500 to $3,500 (a full package with a pour-over will, powers of attorney, and deed work can reach $4,500), while online trust services run about $200 to $600. Florida has no estate or inheritance tax, but its probate is court-supervised, public, and slow, and statutory attorney fees can reach several thousand dollars even on a modest estate — so a trust that avoids probate often pays for itself, especially for homeowners who value privacy.

⚠️ Educational information only — not legal, tax, or financial advice.

The figures on this page are general estimates. Laws, fees, thresholds, and prices differ by state and change often, and your own situation may change the result. Before you act, confirm the current numbers and rules for Florida with a licensed professional — an attorney, tax advisor, or licensed agent as appropriate. Reading this page does not create a professional relationship.

What a living trust actually costs in Florida

There are three ways to set up a revocable living trust in Florida, and they cost very different amounts:

How it’s prepared Typical cost in Florida What’s typically included
Attorney-drafted $1,500 to $3,500 Trust, pour-over will, powers of attorney, deed preparation and funding assistance
Online service $200 to $600 Trust document and standard supporting forms; deed preparation usually excluded
DIY template $0 to ~$100 Document only; drafting and funding are the purchaser’s responsibility

Illustrative Florida pricing as of 2026 — re-verify with current quotes. Most attorney quotes are for a full package (the trust, a pour-over will, financial and healthcare powers of attorney, and help retitling assets), not the trust document alone.

An attorney-drafted living trust in Florida typically runs $1,500 to $3,500. Online trust services advertise $200 to $600, and do-it-yourself templates are nearly free. A trust holds assets outside probate only to the extent those assets are retitled into it, and deed preparation — the step that retitles real estate — is excluded from most online and DIY pricing.

What drives the price within Florida

  • Single person vs. married couple. A joint trust for a couple costs more than a single-person trust, but usually less than two separate trusts.
  • Real estate and funding. Every property that goes into the trust needs a new deed drafted and recorded. More properties — or property in more than one state — means more work and a higher fee.
  • Complexity. A blended family, a special-needs beneficiary, a business interest, or potential estate-tax exposure all push you toward the upper end (or above it).
  • Package vs. document. The headline price usually includes the supporting documents and funding help. A bare trust document is cheaper but leaves the hardest part — funding — to you.

What probate costs in Florida by comparison

A funded living trust holds assets outside probate. The figure it is measured against is therefore the cost of Florida probate itself.

Florida probate is formal, court-supervised, and a matter of public record. Florida Statute §733.6171 sets presumptively reasonable probate attorney fees as a percentage of the estate — for example, $3,000 on the first $100,000 and 3% of the next $900,000 — and the personal representative is entitled to a separate commission. Formal administration commonly takes 6 to 12 months.

On a $400,000 Florida estate, presumptively reasonable probate attorney fees alone run about $12,000 under §733.6171, plus the personal representative's commission and court costs. A living trust that avoids formal administration sidesteps those fees entirely and keeps the estate private.

For the full breakdown, see How Much Does Probate Cost in Florida?.

How Florida probate cost compares to trust cost

Florida probate is a public, multi-month proceeding, and real property in a second state requires a separate ancillary probate there. Both are avoided for assets titled into a funded trust. Estates within Florida's summary-administration or disposition-without-administration thresholds use the statutory short-form procedure instead.

A living trust operates on two things: assets retitled into it pass outside probate, and the trust document governs management if the grantor becomes incapacitated. Those are the documented functions; the figures above are what each costs in Florida.

Florida-specific things to know

Florida's homestead protections are powerful but technical. You can usually transfer a Florida homestead into a revocable trust without losing the property-tax homestead exemption or its constitutional creditor protection — but only if the trust and the deed contain the specific homestead language Florida law requires. Get this one right with a Florida attorney; a DIY deed can quietly cost you the exemption.

Funding is everything. A Florida trust avoids probate only for assets retitled into it — including a new deed (with proper homestead language) for your home and ownership changes on accounts. Florida also offers a Lady Bird (enhanced life estate) deed and TOD/POD designations as cheaper, narrower probate-avoidance tools. An unfunded trust — one you signed but never moved your assets into — does nothing; those assets still go through probate. This is the most common and most expensive living-trust mistake in every state.

What affects the price in Florida

If your main goal is just keeping the house out of probate, ask a Florida attorney whether a Lady Bird deed (often a few hundred dollars) would do the job before paying for a full trust. For a broader plan or out-of-state property, a trust covers assets a beneficiary deed does not.

The documented price drivers:

  • Preparation route. Online and flat-fee services occupy the lower end of the range; attorney drafting the upper end. Estate complexity is the factor attorneys cite for the difference.
  • Fee structure. Estate-planning attorneys commonly quote a flat package price rather than hourly. What the package includes varies — deed preparation and funding are the items most often excluded.
  • Bundling. The trust, pour-over will, and powers of attorney are commonly quoted together at less than the sum of their separate prices.
  • Deed work. Retitling real estate into the trust requires a recorded deed. An incorrectly prepared deed can affect a homestead exemption or trigger a property-tax reassessment, depending on state law.

What determines whether a trust applies in Florida

In Florida the operative factors are real estate, property held in more than one state, and public-record exposure — Florida probate files are public. Estates within the summary-administration threshold use the short-form procedure.

The circumstances in which a living trust has a documented effect:

  • Real estate, particularly in more than one state — property in another state otherwise requires a separate ancillary probate there.
  • Privacy — a probated will becomes a public court record; a trust does not.
  • Incapacity — a trust governs management during life; a will takes effect only at death.
  • Staged distributions — a trust can direct payment over time; a will distributes at closing.

Where an estate consists of assets that already pass by beneficiary designation or joint ownership, those assets bypass probate without a trust. For the documented differences between the two instruments, see Will vs. Trust: How They Differ.

What the record shows

Item Florida
Attorney-drafted living trust $1,500 – $3,500
Online trust services $200 – $600
Governing statutes Fla. Stat. §733.6171 (probate attorney fees); Fla. Stat. Ch. 736 (Florida Trust Code); Fla. Const. Art. X, §4 (homestead)
State authority The Florida Bar Consumer Pamphlet: The Revocable Trust in Florida

A trust holds outside probate only the assets actually retitled into it; an unfunded trust leaves those assets in probate. The Florida probate figures this is measured against are set out above with their citations. Figures reflect published 2026 pricing and should be re-verified against live quotes.

Living trust costs in other states

Compare Florida with living trust pricing in other states:

This page explains living trust costs and the probate they avoid in Florida in general terms as of 2026. It is not legal or financial advice; prices, statutes, and thresholds change and depend on your situation. Confirm current figures and rules with a licensed Florida attorney. Cost figures are drawn from published 2026 attorney and online-service pricing and should be re-verified with live quotes. Sources: The Florida Bar Consumer Pamphlet: The Revocable Trust in Florida; Fla. Stat. §733.6171 (probate attorney fees), Fla. Stat. Ch. 736 (Florida Trust Code), Fla. Const. Art. X, §4 (homestead).

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