Guides › Estate, Probate & Inheritance › Living Trust Cost
Updated September 24, 2026. Quick answer: A revocable living trust drawn up by a Missouri attorney runs a median $2,350, $1,900–$2,800 for the middle half of the 909 firms LegalTemplates surveyed in 2026. That puts Missouri at the 4th-cheapest of the 20 states compared here, coming in under the $2,475 national median for a standalone trust. A DIY platform runs $149 to $649. What that spend buys locally: Jackson County (Kansas City), Missouri’s 2nd-most-populous county, charges $190.50 to open probate with a will and $155.50 without one.
Whether the state taxes the trust’s income is a separate question: does Missouri tax trust income.
Fast routes: National living trust cost guide | Missouri probate filing fee | Missouri probate cost | Is a living trust worth it in Missouri?
If you choose a document service
Review the living-trust option
LawDepot builds a state-specific revocable living trust from guided questions. Check the price and retitling instructions before you buy.
If you need advice about your situation, compare the attorney route above before choosing a document service.
The link goes to LawDepot, a paid legal-document service, not Clear Money Guide and not a law firm. LawDepot pays Clear Money Guide a commission if you buy a document there, at no extra cost to you. You are under no obligation to buy anything. We are not a law firm and this is not legal advice.
Review LawDepot’s living trustOpens on LawDepot. Follow the signing and retitling instructions for your state.
How our partner relationships workLiving trust cost in Missouri: attorney vs DIY
Set against the national median and the DIY platforms:
| Figure | Amount |
|---|---|
| Attorney median, Missouri | $2,350 |
| Attorney middle-50% range, Missouri | $1,900–$2,800 |
| National median, all 50 states and DC | $2,475 |
| DIY document platform range | $149–$649 |
Attorneys who bundle the trust into a fuller package (pour-over will, financial power of attorney, healthcare documents) charge a national median of $2,700 for that package. DIY document platforms run $149 to $649 and do not vary by state; the national living trust cost guide has the full platform comparison table (LegalZoom, Trust & Will, Quicken WillMaker, FreeWill) with what each one includes.
Attorney figures: LegalTemplates, September 24, 2026.
What a living trust avoids: probate in Missouri
Missouri’s probate system is what a funded trust bypasses entirely; here is what that system actually charges. Jackson County (Kansas City), Missouri’s 2nd-most-populous county, charges $190.50 to open probate with a will and $155.50 without one. Full filing-fee breakdown.
Missouri puts probate fees on a statutory percentage schedule, so the largest single cost is anchored to published numbers rather than to an hourly rate: the schedule is a floor rather than a ceiling; both the personal representative and the attorney are each entitled to a minimum of 5% of the first $5,000, 4% of the next $20,000, 3% of the next $75,000 and less above that (RSMo §473.153), computed on personal property administered, and the court may allow more. The second number is the small-estate threshold, at or under which an estate skips most of probate: $40,000, net of liens, by small-estate affidavit. Whether any of that reaches a solely owned house is answered below; it is where most published guidance goes wrong. Full Missouri probate cost guide, including how small an estate has to be to sidestep probate on its own.
Missouri living trust: signing, notary and the deed
Each line is a short extract quoted from, or a plain summary of, the statute cited; the section has the exceptions.
- Creating the trust. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 456.4-402: “…the settlor indicates an intention to create the trust…”
- Writing rule. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 456.4-407 (summarized, not quoted): apart from a conveyance by which a trust arises by implication or construction of law, declarations and creations of trust in land must be manifested and proved by a writing signed by the party able to declare the trust, or by that party’s will, or they are void.
- Deed and notary. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 442.150: “…acknowledgment of every conveyance or instrument in writing affecting real estate…”
- Certification of trust. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 456.10-1013: “A certification of trust must be signed by all the trustees.”
For what the court side costs if a trust is not used, see Missouri probate cost.
Funding the trust in Missouri
The trust protects only what is actually inside it, which for real estate means a recorded deed change, not just the trust paperwork. Funding the trust in Missouri is inexpensive because the state does not impose a real estate transfer tax on this transfer, or on any transfer: Mo. Const. art. X, §25, approved by voters in 2010, bars the state and every political subdivision from imposing any new tax on the sale or transfer of real estate. Missouri also does not reassess a home because title moved into your own revocable trust; per the State Tax Commission’s reassessment guide, the assessor’s biennial cycle (values set in odd-numbered years) is driven by market conditions and new construction, not by a change in ownership. The new deed still has to be recorded with the county recorder of deeds for a modest per-page fee.
Is a living trust worth it in Missouri?
$2,350 up front buys out of the probate costs above, and buys privacy and speed a will cannot: no public court file, no waiting on a judge’s calendar. The full worth-it analysis for Missouri runs the trade against your own real estate and estate size.
Sources
- LegalTemplates, 2026 Estate Planning Costs in the US (909 firms, read September 24, 2026).
- Missouri probate filing fee, Missouri probate cost, national living trust cost guide (Clear Money Guide).
- Statute/agency source, transfer-tax/recording source