Clear Money Guide
What this state guide covers
A quick view of the questions, practical details and source notes below.
Updated August 20, 2026. Short answer for Louisiana: Louisiana publishes no percentage schedule, so anyone quoting you a firm probate figure is estimating. The question that is answerable here is the one that decides most cases: whether the estate can use the small-estate shortcut at all — and in Louisiana, a house can ride through it, but only if there is no will. The dollar figure: $200,000 gross value for someone who died domiciled in Louisiana, and $125,000 for Louisiana property left by someone domiciled elsewhere, under La. C.C.P. art. 3421.
Does your estate even face probate in Louisiana?
A living trust earns its cost by keeping assets out of probate. So the first question is not what a trust costs — it is whether the estate would go through probate anyway. In Louisiana the shortcut is: $200,000 gross value where the decedent died domiciled in Louisiana, or $125,000 of Louisiana property where they died domiciled elsewhere — ‘small succession’ (La. C.C.P. art. 3421, as amended by Acts 2026, No. 293); a succession opened 20 or more years after the death qualifies at any value. Judicial opening is unnecessary for an intestate Louisiana domiciliary, and for a testate one only if they left no immovable property here and everyone waives probate (art. 3431); 90-day wait to record an affidavit covering immovable property.
The statute is not silent on real property. Art. 3431(A) lets a small succession skip judicial opening for “A person domiciled in Louisiana who died intestate”, with no immovable-property exclusion at all; but where the decedent died testate the route is open only if they left “no immovable property in Louisiana” and everyone who would inherit agrees to waive probate of the testament. In Louisiana it is the will, not the house, that closes the shortcut. Full detail and citations: Louisiana probate cost.
Why Louisiana will not give you one number
Louisiana uses a hybrid of statutory caps and reasonableness rather than a percentage schedule. What the statute fixes is the standard, not the sum: Executor/administrator: default statutory commission of 2.5% of the gross inventory value of the succession absent testament provision or agreement; court may increase on showing of inadequacy (La. C.C.P. art. 3351). Attorney fees: reasonable (no statutory schedule). Three things then decide the bill — how many billable hours administration takes, whether anyone contests, and whether the estate escapes through the small-estate route above. Court filing alone is varies by county.
Because the fee is not computable, treat any published Louisiana probate figure as an estimate — including ours. What is not an estimate is the small-estate gate, and that is usually the decisive fact.
If a trust fits your situation in Louisiana
In Louisiana a house rides through the shortcut when there is no will and blocks it when there is one — the reverse of what most people assume, and a reason to settle the question in advance rather than leave it to a court. If a revocable living trust is the route you choose, LawDepot builds a state-specific one; funding it is what makes it work.
Build a living trust at LawDepot
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What a living trust costs, and what it does not fix in Louisiana
An attorney-drafted revocable living trust package runs a median of $2,700, with the middle half of firms charging $2,500–$3,500 — roughly $1,700 more than the $1,000 median for an attorney-drafted will package. Full breakdown: what a living trust costs.
A trust only avoids probate for assets actually retitled into it. An unfunded trust is the most expensive document in estate planning: you pay for it and the estate goes through probate anyway. Budget for the retitling, not just the drafting.
And a revocable trust does not reduce Louisiana death taxes. Louisiana levies inheritance tax (none (repealed for deaths after 6/30/2004)). A revocable living trust is a probate-avoidance and privacy tool, not a tax shelter — the assets remain in the taxable estate. Detail: estate tax by state.
Where this usually goes wrong
The two failures that cost the most in Louisiana are not choosing the wrong document. They are buying a trust and never retitling the house into it, and assuming the trust solved a death-tax exposure it cannot touch. Both are decided years before an estate is settled, which is the only time either is cheap to fix. If the estate is large enough for the arithmetic above to matter, here is what to look for in an advisor who prices the whole estate picture.
Run your own numbers
The break-even depends on your estate, not the average one. The will-vs-trust break-even calculator computes it from the statutory schedules, and the probate cost calculator prices administration in Louisiana against any other state.
Cite or share this guide: “Is a Living Trust Worth It in Louisiana? (2026),” statute-cited; clearmoneyguide.com/is-a-living-trust-worth-it-in-louisiana/. Free to cite with attribution.
Before assuming a trust is necessary, first check whether probate is required in Louisiana: the small-estate route may already answer it.
A trust says nothing about medical decisions taken while you are still alive, and Louisiana’s advance directive requirements set out the number of witnesses Louisiana requires and whether notarization is offered as an alternative.
Skipping probate also means skipping the court’s filing fee, see what Louisiana charges to open probate.
Related: how long creditors have to file a claim against an estate in Louisiana.