The Estate Planning Guide Est. 2026

How Much Does a Living Trust Cost in Maryland?

By The Estate Planning Guide Editorial Team Researched against primary sources

Published June 11, 2026 Updated September 23, 2026 10 min read

Quick answer

No Maryland law sets what a living trust costs, and we found no published source for Maryland 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. Maryland sets probate costs by statute (a statutory personal-representative commission plus a Register of Wills fee that scales with estate value), there's no transfer-on-death deed for real estate, and Maryland is one of only a couple of states with BOTH an estate tax and an inheritance tax.

⚠️ 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 Maryland 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 Maryland

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

No Maryland 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 Maryland by comparison

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

Maryland probate runs through the Register of Wills and the Orphans' Court. Md. Code, Est. & Trusts §7-601(a)(1) entitles a personal representative to reasonable compensation, and §7-601(b)(2) caps the commissions the court may allow by a table: not over $20,000, 9%; over $20,000, $1,800 plus 3.6% of the excess over $20,000 — unless the will provides a larger measure (§7-601(b)(1)). §7-601(c) lets the personal representative or an unsuccessful exceptant appeal the allowance to the circuit court within 30 days, which may increase it but not above the table. The Register of Wills charges a probate fee that scales with the value of the probate estate under §2-206(b)(2), from $0 under $50,000 to $10,000 plus 0.02% of the excess over $10 million. Attorney fees are separate, and the file is a public record. The 10% inheritance tax on non-close beneficiaries is a separate charge a revocable trust does not avoid.

On a $500,000 Maryland estate the maximum commission under the §7-601(b)(2) table is $19,080 — $1,800 on the first $20,000, plus 3.6% of the remaining $480,000, which is $17,280. The Register of Wills probate fee on that estate is $1,000, because §2-206(b)(2)(iv) covers a value of at least $500,000 and less than $1,000,000. Attorney fees are separate and are not set by either section. A funded living trust operates on the assets retitled into it, which are not part of the probate estate those two figures are computed on, and a trust is not a public record.

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

How Maryland probate cost compares to trust cost

Maryland probate carries a statutory commission plus a value-scaled Register of Wills fee, and the state has no TOD deed for real estate. Maryland is also one of the few states with both an estate tax and an inheritance tax: Md. Code, Tax-Gen. §7-309(b)(3)(i) sets the estate-tax exclusion at $5,000,000 for a decedent dying on or after 1 January 2019, plus any deceased spousal unused exclusion amount computed under §7-309(b)(9), and §7-204 imposes the inheritance tax at 10% of the clear value of the property that passes from a decedent. A revocable trust avoids probate but does not avoid the inheritance tax, which applies to bequests to non-close relatives whether or not the asset passes through probate.

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 Maryland.

Maryland-specific things to know

Maryland is not a community-property state. It has adopted the Maryland Trust Act (Md. Code, Est. & Trusts, Title 14.5, a version of the Uniform Trust Code). Maryland is unusual in levying both a state estate tax (Md. Tax-Gen. §7-309(b): $5,000,000 for a decedent dying on or after January 1, 2019, plus any deceased spousal unused exclusion amount) and an inheritance tax of 10% of the clear value of the property that passes from a decedent (Md. Tax-Gen. §7-204(b)) — spouses, children, grandchildren, parents, and siblings are exempt, but nieces, nephews, cousins, friends, and other non-close beneficiaries pay 10%.

Funding. A Maryland trust avoids probate only for assets you actually retitle into it — a new deed for real estate and ownership changes on accounts. This matters because Maryland does NOT allow transfer-on-death deeds for real estate, so a trust (or joint ownership) is the main way to keep a home out of probate. Assets funded into the trust can still owe Maryland inheritance tax if they pass to a non-exempt beneficiary — a revocable trust avoids probate, not that tax. 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 Maryland

We found no published source for Maryland 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 Maryland

In Maryland the operative factors are real estate (no TOD deed exists), the $5,000,000 estate-tax exclusion under Md. Code, Tax-Gen. §7-309(b)(3)(i), and bequests to non-close relatives subject to the 10% inheritance tax under §7-204 — which applies to trust assets on the same terms. Small estates may use small-estate or modified administration.

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 Maryland
Price of a living trust Not set by law; no independent published source found as of September 2026
Governing statutes Md. Code, Est. & Trusts, Title 14.5 (Maryland Trust Act); Md. Code, Est. & Trusts §7-601 (PR commission); Md. Code, Tax-Gen. §7-204 (inheritance tax); Md. Code, Tax-Gen. §7-309 (estate tax)
State authority The Maryland People's Law Library (peoples-law.org, Maryland Courts) and the Maryland Register of Wills (registers.maryland.gov)

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

This page sets out what Maryland 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 Maryland attorney. It states no drafting price, because we found no independent published source for one. Sources: The Maryland People's Law Library (peoples-law.org, Maryland Courts) and the Maryland Register of Wills (registers.maryland.gov); Md. Code, Est. & Trusts, Title 14.5 (Maryland Trust Act), Md. Code, Est. & Trusts §7-601 (PR commission), Md. Code, Tax-Gen. §7-204 (inheritance tax), Md. Code, Tax-Gen. §7-309 (estate tax).

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