The Estate Planning Guide Est. 2026

How Much Does a Living Trust Cost in Illinois?

By The Estate Planning Guide Editorial Team Researched against primary sources

Published June 11, 2026 Updated September 23, 2026 9 min read

Quick answer

No Illinois law sets what a living trust costs, and we found no published source for Illinois 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.

⚠️ 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 Illinois 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 Illinois

There are three ways to set up a revocable living trust in Illinois. 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 Illinois 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 Illinois 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 Illinois statute sets what a living trust costs. Illinois 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 Illinois

No Illinois 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 Illinois by comparison

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

Illinois attorney fees, court costs and bond premiums in probate are not set by statute, and we found no published source for what they total as of September 2026.

We found no published source for what probate costs in total in Illinois as of September 2026. The ranges that are published come from law firms, online document sellers, or sites paid to refer customers to them, so none is cited here.

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

How Illinois probate cost compares to trust cost

Illinois requires formal probate above a statutory estate value, and estates below that value use the small-estate affidavit. No threshold figure is stated here: 755 ILCS 5/25-1 could not be read at ilga.gov from this environment, and the figure previously shown came from a law firm’s client publication (withdrawn as il-small-estate-threshold). Illinois taxes estates above a $4,000,000 exclusion under 35 ILCS 405/2. The Attorney General, who administers the tax, states that it is “a taxable threshold and not a credit against tax” and that where the gross estate plus adjusted taxable gifts exceeds it an Illinois Form 700 must be filed “whether or not a Federal Return is required by the Internal Revenue Service.” The figure is not indexed for inflation. A revocable trust does not by itself address it.

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 Illinois.

Illinois-specific things to know

Illinois is not a community-property state and has adopted the Illinois Trust Code (effective 2020). Illinois taxes estates above a $4,000,000 exclusion under 35 ILCS 405/2. The Attorney General, who administers the tax, states that it is “a taxable threshold and not a credit against tax” and that where the gross estate plus adjusted taxable gifts exceeds it an Illinois Form 700 must be filed “whether or not a Federal Return is required by the Internal Revenue Service.” The figure is not indexed for inflation. Because the federal basic exclusion amount is $15,000,000 (26 U.S.C. §2010(c)(3)), estates can owe Illinois estate tax with no federal tax due. That's separate from the probate avoidance a revocable trust provides.

Funding. An Illinois trust avoids probate only for assets retitled into it — a new deed for real estate and ownership changes on accounts. 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 Illinois

We found no published source for Illinois 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 Illinois

In Illinois the operative factor is the statutory formal-probate threshold, which most real-estate-owning estates exceed; estates below it use the small-estate affidavit. No threshold figure is stated here — 755 ILCS 5/25-1 could not be read at ilga.gov from this environment, and the figure previously shown came from a law firm’s client publication (withdrawn as il-small-estate-threshold).

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 Illinois
Price of a living trust Not set by law; no independent published source found as of September 2026
Governing statutes 755 ILCS 5/Art. XXV (small estate affidavit); 760 ILCS 3 (Illinois Trust Code); 35 ILCS 405 (Illinois estate tax)
State authority Illinois Courts (illinoiscourts.gov)

A trust holds outside probate only the assets actually retitled into it; an unfunded trust leaves those assets in probate. The Illinois 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 Illinois with living trust pricing in other states:

This page sets out what Illinois 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 Illinois attorney. It states no drafting price, because we found no independent published source for one. Sources: Illinois Courts (illinoiscourts.gov); 755 ILCS 5/Art. XXV (small estate affidavit), 760 ILCS 3 (Illinois Trust Code), 35 ILCS 405 (Illinois estate tax).

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