Educational guide — not legal advice. Costs vary by attorney and by Texas county. A written engagement letter states the exact fee before work begins.
The short answer
A revocable living trust in Texas usually costs:
| What you’re getting | Typical Texas cost |
|---|---|
| Online living trust (simple situation) | Not set by law; no independent published source found as of September 2026 |
| Attorney-drafted trust package (trust + pour-over will + POAs + medical directive) | Not set by law; no independent published source found as of September 2026 |
| Complex trust plan (blended family, special needs, business, multi-state property) | Not set by law; no independent published source found as of September 2026 |
Texas runs lower than high-cost states like California or New York. Major metros (Austin, Dallas, Houston) sit at the higher end of these ranges; smaller markets lower.
The figure that cost sits against is what Texas probate charges without one, which is documented in the next section.
What a Texas living trust displaces
A living trust keeps trust-titled assets out of probate. Texas also offers independent administration (Texas Estates Code Chapter 401), which lets an executor settle the estate with very little court supervision:
- We found no independent published source for this figure as of September 2026; the ranges that are published come from law firms, online document sellers, or sites paid to refer customers to them.
- We found no independent published source for this figure as of September 2026; the ranges that are published come from law firms, online document sellers, or sites paid to refer customers to them.
- Timeline is set by the statutory steps of the administration.
- No statutory fee schedule, no probate referee, and no Texas estate or inheritance tax.
California sets attorney and executor compensation on a statutory percentage schedule calculated on the gross value of the estate (Cal. Prob. Code §§10800, 10810); Texas does not. In Texas, the probate you’d be avoiding is already inexpensive, so the math that justifies a trust elsewhere often doesn’t hold here. See our Probate Cost in Texas breakdown for the numbers.
What a trust covers that the free mechanisms do not
A trust still makes sense in specific situations:
- Privacy. A will becomes a public court record in probate; a trust stays private. If you value privacy, that alone can justify it.
- Incapacity planning. A trust lets your successor trustee manage your assets if you become incapacitated — without a court guardianship. (A durable power of attorney also helps here and is cheaper.)
- Out-of-state property. If you own real estate in another state, a trust avoids a second “ancillary” probate there. This is one of the strongest Texas-specific reasons.
- Blended families or controlled distributions. A trust holds an asset and releases it on the terms it states. A will transfers outright at death, so it does not hold property for a minor child, a special-needs beneficiary or a second marriage over time.
- Avoiding even cheap probate. Some people simply prefer that their family not deal with any court process at all.
If none of these apply and you mainly want to pass a home and some accounts to your heirs, a will + beneficiary designations + a transfer-on-death deed usually gets you there for far less. See Transfer on Death Deed vs. Living Trust in Texas.
What’s included at each price point
Online trust
Services like Trust & Will, LegalZoom, and Quicken WillMaker produce Texas-compliant trust documents through a guided questionnaire. Good for genuinely simple situations where you’re comfortable answering the questions yourself. You’re responsible for funding the trust afterward.
Attorney trust package
A Texas estate attorney drafts a revocable living trust customized to your wishes, plus the documents that go with it:
- A pour-over will (catches anything not in the trust and names guardians for minor children)
- A durable financial power of attorney
- A medical power of attorney and directive to physicians (Texas’s living will)
- Often guidance on funding the trust
Quotes differ on whether trust funding — retitling your home and accounts into the trust — is included. An unfunded trust avoids nothing.
Complex plan
Blended families, special-needs beneficiaries, business succession, or multi-state property. The price reflects real attorney time and specialty knowledge.
The catch: a trust only works if you fund it
This is the single most important and most ignored point. A living trust only avoids probate for assets actually titled in the trust’s name. If you pay for a trust and never deed your house into it, the house stays in your personal name — and goes through probate anyway, defeating the purpose. If you set up a Texas trust, confirm the attorney handles funding or follow a clear funding checklist yourself.
Ways to spend less
- The trust is the largest line item. Texas independent administration carries no statutory attorney fee percentage, so the probate cost a trust displaces is smaller here than in states that set fees by statute.
- A TOD deed for the house. Texas’s transfer-on-death deed passes a home outside probate for the cost of recording a document — a budget alternative to a trust for a single home.
- Current beneficiary designations. Retirement accounts, life insurance, and payable-on-death bank accounts skip probate automatically. Free and high-value.
- Quote variation. Prices for the same package vary across Texas.
What the record shows
Texas Estates Code chapter 401 provides three routes into independent administration, under which no action is had in the probate court beyond probating and recording the will and the return of any required inventory, appraisement and list of claims:
| Route | Section | What the section requires |
|---|---|---|
| By will | §401.001(a) | The testator provides in the will that no other action shall be had in the probate court |
| By agreement, testate estate | §401.002(a) | Where the will names an executor but does not provide for independent administration, all the distributees may agree and designate that executor as independent executor; the court enters the order unless it finds that doing so would not be in the estate’s best interest |
| By agreement, intestate estate | §401.003 | All the distributees may agree and designate a qualified person; under (b) the court may not appoint until the parties have been determined, through a heirship proceeding under chapter 202, to constitute all the decedent’s heirs |
§401.001(b) runs the other way: a testator may provide that no independent administration of the estate is allowed, in which case the estate is administered under the direction of the probate court. No section in chapter 401 states what share of Texas estates are administered independently, and no such share is stated here.
Texas sets no statutory attorney fee percentage for probate. On the executor’s commission, §352.002(a) allows an executor, administrator or temporary administrator whom the court finds to have managed the estate in compliance with the standards of the title a five percent commission on all amounts actually received or paid out in cash. Two subsections then cut that base down:
- §352.002(b)(1) caps the commission in the aggregate at 5% of the gross fair market value of the estate subject to administration.
- §352.002(b)(2) allows no commission for (A) receiving funds that at the time of death were on hand or held for the decedent in a financial institution or brokerage firm, including cash or a cash equivalent in a checking, savings, certificate-of-deposit or money-market account; (B) collecting the proceeds of a life insurance policy; or (C) paying out cash to an heir or legatee in that capacity.
§352.003(a) separately allows the court to set reasonable compensation instead — including for unusual efforts to collect funds or life insurance — where the executor manages a farm, ranch, factory or other business of the estate, or where the §352.002 figure “is unreasonably low”. Texas has a statutory transfer-on-death deed for real property (§114.051 et seq.), so real property can be passed outside probate without a trust. A funded revocable trust operates on the assets retitled into it and additionally provides non-public administration, successor-trustee authority on incapacity, and administration of out-of-state real property without an ancillary proceeding. We found no independent published source for this figure as of September 2026; the ranges that are published come from law firms, online document sellers, or sites paid to refer customers to them.
Common questions
Is a living trust cheaper than probate in Texas?
Often it’s the other way around. The reasons to buy one in Texas are privacy, incapacity, and out-of-state property, not avoiding fees. We found no independent published source for this figure as of September 2026; the ranges that are published come from law firms, online document sellers, or sites paid to refer customers to them.
Do I still need a will if I have a Texas living trust?
Yes — a pour-over will. It catches assets you didn’t move into the trust and is the only document that can name guardians for minor children.
Does a living trust avoid Texas estate tax?
There’s nothing to avoid — Texas has no state estate or inheritance tax. Only very large estates face the federal estate tax, and a revocable trust doesn’t reduce it.
Can I put my house in a Texas living trust myself?
Yes, by signing and recording a new deed transferring the home into the trust. Many people get the trust drafted but never record the deed, which leaves the house in probate. If you DIY, don’t skip the deed.
Related reading
- Transfer on Death Deed vs. Living Trust in Texas
- Do You Need a Lawyer to Make a Will in Texas?
- Estate Planning in Texas: The Complete Guide
- Probate Cost in Texas
- How Much Does a Living Trust Cost? (national)
Educational information only — not legal, tax, or financial advice. Texas trust and probate costs vary by attorney, county, and the complexity of your situation. Figures are 2026 estimates; re-verify current quotes locally. A written engagement letter states the fee before work begins. Sources: Texas Estates Code Chapter 114; §§205; and §§352.002, 352.003, 401.001, 401.002, 401.003, each read 27 September 2026 at texas.public.law, which reproduces the section and prints its provenance back to the official statutes.capitol.texas.gov URL — the official site returns a JavaScript-only shell to this container, re-checked the same day at 250KB of markup with no statutory text. The reproduction records those sections as accessed 26 May 2025; State Bar of Texas.