How Much Does a Living Trust Cost in California?

A California revocable living trust costs $1,500 to $5,000+ for an attorney-drafted plan that includes a pour-over will, durable power of attorney, and healthcare directive, plus personalized asset protection based on your needs. Living trusts are intentionally designed to keep your estate out of probate. The lower end of pricing is for individuals or couples with straightforward asset distribution, without business interests or complex assets. The higher end of the spectrum reflects estate plans that include multiple properties and/or business interests, more complex asset distribution (in blended or extended family situations), and that require long-term tax planning.

Trusts cost more than a simple will because, unlike a will that deals solely with straightforward asset distribution, living trusts are a more comprehensive asset-management tool. A well-planned living trust starts working for you from the minute it’s complete, managing your assets while you are alive, protecting you if you become sick, and avoiding any need for probate court after you die. While the upfront costs are higher than those associated with a simple will, those costs should pay for themselves and then some when you view long-term savings associated with the mitigation of tax fees, potential probate costs, and other related fees or penalties.

What You Actually Get: The Attorney-Drafted Estate Plan Package

Most Bay Area estate planning attorneys offer a flat-fee “estate plan package,” rather than billing by the hour. After the initial consultation and estate review, most living trust packages include a revocable living trust, durable power of attorney (financial/legal), advance healthcare directive, HIPAA authorizations, and a pour-over will. The latter acts as a safety net by automatically “pouring” any leftover assets that were not formally transferred into the trust during a person’s life into that trust upon their death. Your estate plan may also include a certificate of trust, a short legal document that proves a trust exists and confirms a trustee’s authority to manage trust assets.

Not included in the initial living trust package, but available for additional fees are things like ongoing trust administration after your death, amendments to the trust that reach beyond simple updates, or separate sub-trusts (special needs, charitable, irrevocable, etc.).

Individual vs. Couple: How Pricing Splits Out

The more people included in a trust, the higher the price will be. So, an individual trust typically costs less than one created for a couple. However, a joint living trust for a couple will cost less than two separate plans.

Again, it’s hard to cite specific costs because they depend on estate needs and complexity. However, assuming an individual or couple includes at least one owned property and a variety of assets and common tax concerns, an individual trust may cost anywhere from $1,500 to $3,500, while a couple’s joint living trust will range from $3,000 to $5,000.

Consider estate planning for couples requires coordinating both spouses’ assets, beneficiary designations, and successor trustee instructions. This requires more time and document drafting work, which increases the total fee. Getting general pricing quotes from multiple local and experienced estate planning attorneys makes sense, but price alone shouldn’t drive the decision. Instead, you want to compare different estate planning packages “apples to apples” so you aren’t surprised by unexpected or hidden fees.

What Drives the Cost Up?

There is a direct relationship between your estate plan’s complexity factors and price. The more complex the needs are, the more time is spent planning and creating the necessary documents, which adds to the total cost.

Here are some of the estate plan factors that push fees up over the base range:

• Business interests. If one or both of you own a sole proprietorship, LLC, partnership or other business interests are at play, they each require additional drafting. This could also include a buy-sell agreement.
• Blended families. In some cases, especially if remarriages occurred when children were young, a blended family may be treated as a nuclear family. However, that’s not always the case. Estate planning becomes more complex when you need clear paths for asset distribution to former partners, children from a different relationship, stepchildren, and so on. These plans may include a QTIP trust or A/B structure, and those cost more.
• Special needs beneficiaries. If a member of your family or your guardianship role requires caring for someone with special needs, we’ll want to include a Special Needs Trust to protect government benefit eligibility. These special considerations cannot be folded into a standard, revocable living trust.
• Multiple real properties. Individuals or couples who own multiple real properties require additional estate planning time, especially for out-of-state properties.
• Proposition 19 planning. Property inheritance and tax laws changed in 2021 with Proposition 19. Failing to adhere to Prop 19’s guidelines, which include filing appropriate forms within one calendar year of the decedent’s death, can trigger property tax reassessment and steep tax hikes.

Estate laws vary by state. So, if you live in California, it’s essential that you work with an attorney who is well-versed in California estate laws.

DIY Living Trusts: Where the Savings Stop

We understand the appeal offered by completing online DIY trusts. With a price tag of between $100 and $300, you may wonder why you’d pay exponentially more for “the same thing” from a lawyer. But the reality is that an online or DIY living trust is not at all the same thing because it puts your estate at significant risk. The real costs of DIY estate planning can wind up costing your heirs and beneficiaries thousands of dollars in the long-run, not to mention the time, energy, and strain if there are interpersonal power plays occurring in a probate court battle.

The single most common DIY failure is an unfunded or inadequately funded trust. This means assets like a home, property, bank accounts, brokerage accounts, etc., are never re-titled into the trust. That makes the trust virtually worthless, and the entire estate winds up in probate anyway. Also, most DIY estate planners don’t understand all of their options, which means they fail to incorporate some of the more complex but still essential factors into the trust, like blended families, business interests, digital asset considerations, special needs issues, charitable contributions, and the Proposition 19 implications we discussed above.

The cost of fixing a DIY trust that failed (or of going through probate because the trust was never funded) often exceeds the cost of an attorney-drafted plan from the start. Not to mention, an estate going through probate can cause a tremendous amount of stress and emotional drama for your loved ones.

How California Probate Fees Compare (the Real Math)

California probate fees are not discretionary. They are governed by statutes under Probate Code sections 10810 and 10811. If your estate, or your DIY estate plan, has to go through probate court, the estate pays a set filing fee (currently between $435 and $465), and may also owe additional fees depending on which Bay Area court the case must be filed in. On top of that, both the estate’s executor and the probate estate attorney each receive the same statutory percentage of the gross estate (not net value or equity).

As of 2026, the percentages of the fees paid to BOTH the attorney and the executor based on the gross value of the estate are as follows:

• 4% on the first $100,000
• 3% on the next $100,000 (up to $200,000)
• 2% on the next $800,000 (up to $1 million)
• 1% on the next $9 million (up to $10 million)
• 0.5% on the next $15 million (up to $25 million)

For example: if an estate consisted solely of a Bay Area home with a gross value of $900,000, the estate would pay the initial filing fee of just under $500 (perhaps more depending on the county and other variables). Then, the following calculation would be used to formulate the amounts owed to both the probate attorney and again for the executor:

• 4% of $100,000: $4,000
• 3% of $100,000: $3,000
• 2% of remaining $700,000: $14,000

TOTAL: $21,000 x 2 = $42,000

Again, these are just the statutory minimums. Probate court cases can take anywhere from 12 – 24 months to complete. In that time, taxes must be paid and other probate-associated fees can be added to this total, due to any additional court filing fees, appraiser costs, legally-mandated publication fees, and so on.

So, you can see how even a simple estate, with only a single property and no other assets, would already cost the estate exponentially more than it would have if the decedent had paid a one-time fee for an estate planning package from an experienced lawyer.

Here is a quick table comparing an attorney-drafted living trust and a trust that goes to probate, assuming each of them has a gross value of $900,000.

Type	Upfront Cost	Statutory Fees	Timeline	Privacy	Contestability
Attorney-drafted living trust	About $3,000	$0 at death	Weeks to months	Private	Much harder to contest
Probate	$435 to $465 filing fee	$42,000 or more	1 to 2 years	Public	Easier to challenge

What Tseng Law Firm Includes & How to Get Started

Tseng Law Firm uses a flat-fee model for basic estate planning packages, and offers a clear fee scale for additional complexity factors so clients know exactly what they’ll be paying up front. You’ll never be surprised by extra billable hours or hidden fees.

Our basic revocable living trust packages include a pour-over will, POA, and a healthcare directive. We have more than a decade of experience crafting personalized trusts for our clients in Alameda, Oakland, Berkeley, San Leandro, and the broader Alameda County area.

Call Tseng Law Firm at (510) 835-3090 to schedule a consultation and get a quote for a living trust tailored to your individual or household situation. You can also contact us online.

Please note that this and other Tseng Law Firm posts are for general informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Laws change; readers should consult with a licensed California estate planning attorney for guidance specific to their circumstances.