The Estate Planning Guide Est. 2026

How Much Does a Living Trust Cost in Rhode Island?

By The Estate Planning Guide Editorial Team Researched against primary sources

Published June 11, 2026 Updated September 23, 2026 8 min read

Quick answer

No Rhode Island law sets what a living trust costs, and we found no published source for Rhode Island 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. What a trust displaces is probate. Rhode Island has no transfer-on-death deed statute, and §33-24-1(a) limits voluntary informal administration to an estate of personal property, exclusive of tangible personal property, not exceeding $15,000.

⚠️ 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 Rhode Island 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 Rhode Island

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

No Rhode Island 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 Rhode Island by comparison

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

Rhode Island sets neither attorney nor executor fees by percentage, so no worked example can be calculated from the statute; the probate filing fee is capped.

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

How Rhode Island probate cost compares to trust cost

Rhode Island has no TOD deed for real estate and a low small-estate threshold, so a solely-owned home almost always passes through probate unless titled into a trust.

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 Rhode Island.

Rhode Island-specific things to know

Rhode Island has not adopted the Uniform Trust Code; its trust and fiduciary law lives in Title 18 of the General Laws. The state also levies its own estate tax, and it works through a credit rather than an exemption. R.I. Gen. Laws §44-22-1.1(a)(4) adjusts the credit every January 1 by the increase in the CPI-U measured to September 30 of the prior year, compounded annually and rounded up to the nearest $5. For deaths on or after January 1, 2026 the Division of Taxation set the credit at $87,940, which exempts the first $1,838,056 of an estate (Advisory 2025-27, December 30, 2025); the 2025 figures were a credit of $85,375 and a threshold of $1,802,431. The figure changes every January, so it is re-read each year. Larger estates may be exposed to it on top of probate.

Funding. A trust only avoids probate for assets you actually retitle into it — recording a new deed for real estate with the city or town, and changing the owner on bank and brokerage accounts. Rhode Island charges a real-estate conveyance tax, but transfers into your own revocable trust are generally exempt. 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 Rhode Island

We found no published source for Rhode Island 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 Rhode Island

In Rhode Island the operative factor is solely-owned real estate — no TOD deed exists and the small-estate threshold is low. Accounts with named beneficiaries pass by designation.

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 Rhode Island
Price of a living trust Not set by law; no independent published source found as of September 2026
Governing statutes R.I. Gen. Laws §33-24-1 (small-estate limit); R.I. Gen. Laws §33-11-5 (creditor claims); R.I. Gen. Laws Title 18 (fiduciaries and trusts)
State authority Rhode Island Judiciary and local probate courts (courts.ri.gov)

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

This page sets out what Rhode Island 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 Rhode Island attorney. It states no drafting price, because we found no independent published source for one. Sources: Rhode Island Judiciary and local probate courts (courts.ri.gov); R.I. Gen. Laws §33-24-1 (small-estate limit), R.I. Gen. Laws §33-11-5 (creditor claims), R.I. Gen. Laws Title 18 (fiduciaries and trusts).

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