How Much Does a Living Trust Cost in Florida?

A Florida revocable living trust prepared by an attorney is typically part of a package that commonly runs from about $1,500 to $3,000 for an individual, more for couples or complex estates, with a full plan sometimes reaching $2,000–$5,000+. Guided software produces the same core Florida documents for a flat fee that is a fraction of that. The price that surprises people, though, is funding the trust. This is general information, not legal advice, and prices vary — always confirm.

What drives the price

The cost everyone forgets: funding

A trust only avoids probate for the assets you actually move into it. Retitling a home (a new deed), bank and brokerage accounts, and updating beneficiary designations is the work that makes a trust do its job. An unfunded trust is an expensive document that still leaves your estate in probate.

Will, trust, or neither?

Before paying for a trust, compare it to the alternatives for your situation — see Florida will vs. trust, how the revocable living trust works, and other ways to avoid probate (including a lady bird deed for a single property).

What a Florida trust package actually contains

A revocable living trust never travels alone, which is why the attorney ranges above are for a package. A complete Florida trust plan holds five instruments, and the price should be read against all five:

Here the Trust-Based Plan is $499 for one person and $699 for a married couple, one time, for all five — the 22-article Florida trust with its funding instructions, the will with the pour-over election, the power of attorney, the healthcare directive, and the HIPAA release, with Florida signing instructions for each and a free preview before you pay. A married couple receives one single-settlor trust per spouse, each naming the other, the way Florida practice drafts it. Software, not a law firm: the documents are prepared from your answers on locked Florida masters, they are not reviewed by anyone, and a licensed Florida attorney of your choosing can review them before you sign. See the Trust-Based Plan and how the Florida revocable trust works.

Funding, itemized

The trust controls only what it holds. Funding is the work, and most of its cost is time rather than money:

Trust versus probate: the statutory numbers

Florida sets presumed-reasonable fees for probate in statute, and a parallel, lower schedule for a trust. For a probate estate the attorney’s fee is presumed reasonable at $3,000 on the first $100,000 and 3% of the next $900,000 (§733.6171(3)), and the personal representative’s commission at 3% of the first $1 million (§733.617(2)). For a trust, the attorney who advises the trustee in the initial administration is presumed reasonable at 75% of that attorney schedule (§736.1007(2)), and there is no personal representative’s commission — the trustee is compensated as the trust provides or as is reasonable (§736.0708).

Every figure is presumed reasonable, not mandatory — the statutes require written disclosure that the fees are negotiable — and a family member serving as personal representative often waives the commission. The comparison still explains why Florida families with a home and accounts choose the trust: on a $500,000 estate the difference between the two columns is larger than the price of the plan several times over, and the trust keeps the family out of a court file that is public.

Ongoing cost while you are alive

None is required. You are the trustee of your own revocable trust; it generally uses your Social Security number and files no separate income-tax return; there are no annual fees, filings, or registrations in Florida. Amendments are a signed writing with the trust’s testamentary formalities. The only recurring work is keeping it funded — titling new accounts and property in the trust as you acquire them, which is a habit rather than a cost.

When the trust is worth the price, and when it is not

Worth it: you own a home and accounts that would otherwise go through probate; you own property in more than one state; you want a successor trustee ready if you become incapacitated; you want privacy; you want younger beneficiaries to inherit in stages. Probably not: your assets pass by beneficiary designation or joint ownership already, or a single homestead is the only thing at stake — a lady bird deed moves one property outside probate for a fraction of the price. A trust also does nothing for the costs it is often bought to avoid: it is not asset protection while you are alive, and it changes no Florida tax, because Florida has none.

Before you buy a trust: ten questions

The answers decide whether a trust is worth its price for you, and they are the questions the guided plan asks:

• Which of your assets would go through probate today — the home, accounts without beneficiaries, a business, out-of-state property?
• Do you own real property in more than one state? Each state means a separate probate without a trust.
• Is a single homestead the only asset at stake? A lady bird deed may do the job for a fraction of the price.
• Are any beneficiaries young enough that you want their share managed until an age you choose?
• Who would manage your affairs if you became incapacitated, and would you rather that be a successor trustee than a court-appointed guardian?
• Does privacy matter to you? Probate files are public; a trust is not.
• Will you do the funding — the deed, the account forms — and keep doing it for new assets?
• Are you married? Each spouse receives their own single-settlor trust; the homestead rules still apply to the house.
• Do your beneficiary designations already move most of what you own?
• Is there a blended family, a business, a special-needs beneficiary, or a dispute in view? Those are the cases for a licensed Florida attorney of your choosing.

The vocabulary on the invoice

Settlor (grantor)

The person who creates and funds the trust — you. In a married couple’s plan, each spouse is the settlor of their own trust.

Trustee and successor trustee

The trustee holds legal title and administers the trust; you serve first, and the successor you name steps in on incapacity or death (§736.0701 et seq.).

Qualified beneficiary

The beneficiaries a trustee must keep informed and account to — current distributees and those next in line (§736.0103, §736.0813).

Certification of trust

The short statutory document that proves the trust’s existence and the trustee’s powers to a bank or title company without disclosing its terms (§736.1017).

Funding

Retitling accounts and property into the trust, or naming it as beneficiary, so the trust owns what it is meant to pass. The trust controls only what it holds.

Pour-over devise

The will’s residuary gift to the trustee of your trust (§732.513), catching whatever was left outside it at death.

Trust protector

An optional office the trust can create to amend administrative terms or replace a trustee without a court, within limits the trust states.

Notice of trust

The document the successor trustee files with the court after the settlor’s death, stating the trust’s existence (§736.05055).

General information about Florida law, not legal advice. Pricing varies by provider and situation — confirm specifics directly. EstateDraftFL is software, not a law firm.