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 Updated September 23, 2026 Citations verified September 25, 2026 8 min read

Quick answer

No Florida law sets what a living trust costs, and we found no published source for Florida trust-drafting prices as of September 2026 that is not a law firm, an online document seller, or a site paid to refer customers to one. Florida has no estate or inheritance tax. Its probate is court-supervised and is a public court record. Fla. Stat. §733.6171(1) entitles the attorney for the personal representative to reasonable compensation, and §733.6171(2)(b)1 requires the attorney to disclose in writing that "[t]here is not a mandatory statutory attorney fee for estate administration" — the percentage schedule in §733.6171(3) is a presumed reasonable fee, not a mandated one. Assets titled into a funded trust pass outside that process.

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

The figures on this page are the ones a statute or a named, dated publisher sets. 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. What each includes differs; what each costs is not set by law and is not published by any independent source we could find:

How it’s prepared Price in Florida What the engagement or the service’s terms state
Attorney-drafted Not set by law; no independent published source found as of September 2026 Whatever the written engagement letter lists. It is the engagement, not a market convention, that fixes the scope.
Online service Not set by law; no independent published source found as of September 2026 Whatever the service’s own published terms list.
DIY template Not set by law; no independent published source found as of September 2026 The document alone. Drafting and funding are the purchaser’s to do.

We found no published source for this figure as of September 2026. The Florida trust prices that are published come from law firms, online document sellers, or sites paid to refer customers to them. None is an independent publisher, so none is cited here.

No Florida statute sets what a living trust costs. Florida trust law governs how a trust is created and administered; it fixes no drafting charge. What is fixed by law is the probate side of the comparison, below. 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 a separate charge wherever the trust is drafted.

What drives the price within Florida

No Florida statute sets any of these, and we found no independent published source for how much each moves the price as of September 2026. They are the items a drafting engagement is made of:

  • A joint trust for a married couple, against a single-person trust, against two separate trusts.
  • A new deed drafted and recorded for every property retitled into the trust, and a separate one in each other state where property is held.
  • A blended family, a special-needs beneficiary, a business interest, or estate-tax exposure.
  • Whether the price covers the trust document alone or a package with a pour-over will and powers of attorney.

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(3) publishes a schedule of probate attorney fees it states is presumed to be reasonable — for example, $3,000 on the first $100,000 and 3% of the next $900,000 — and §733.617(2) treats the personal representative's separate commission the same way. Neither is mandatory: §733.6171(2)(b)1 requires the attorney to disclose in writing that there is no mandatory statutory attorney fee.

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. A defectively drafted deed can cost the homestead exemption, and the defect is not always apparent when the deed is recorded.

Funding. 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 narrower probate-avoidance tools. A trust holds outside probate only the assets actually retitled into it; assets left in the grantor’s own name pass through probate whether or not a trust exists.

What affects the price in Florida

We found no published source for Florida trust pricing as of September 2026, so this page states no range and no price drivers beyond what the work itself consists of, above. The one price on this page that is fixed by law is the probate court’s, in the section above, with the statute that fixes it cited there.

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
Price of a living trust Not set by law; no independent published source found as of September 2026
Governing statutes Fla. Stat. §733.6171 (probate attorney fees); Fla. Stat. Ch. 736 (Florida Trust Code); Fla. Const. Art. X, §4 (homestead)

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. No figure is published here for what a trust costs to draft: we found no independent published source as of September 2026.

Living trust costs in other states

Compare Florida with living trust pricing in other states:

This page sets out what Florida law fixes about a living trust and the probate it is measured against, as of September 2026. It is not legal or financial advice; statutes and thresholds change and depend on your situation. Confirm current figures and rules with a licensed Florida attorney. It states no drafting price, because we found no independent published source for one. Sources: Fla. Stat. §733.6171 (probate attorney fees), Fla. Stat. Ch. 736 (Florida Trust Code), Fla. Const. Art. X, §4 (homestead).

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