Guides › Estate, Probate & Inheritance › Living Trust Cost
Updated September 24, 2026. Quick answer: A revocable living trust drawn up by a Rhode Island attorney runs a median $2,750, $2,300–$3,200 for the middle half of the 909 firms LegalTemplates surveyed in 2026. That puts Rhode Island at the 12th-cheapest of the 20 states compared here, coming in over the $2,475 national median for a standalone trust. A DIY platform runs $149 to $649. What that spend buys locally: Rhode Island charges 1% of the decedent’s personal property, with a $30 floor and a $1,500 cap that a $250,000 estate hits.
Whether the state taxes the trust’s income is a separate question: does Rhode Island tax trust income.
Fast routes: National living trust cost guide | Rhode Island probate filing fee | Rhode Island probate cost | Is a living trust worth it in Rhode Island?
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How our partner relationships workLiving trust cost in Rhode Island: attorney vs DIY
Set against the national median and the DIY platforms:
| Figure | Amount |
|---|---|
| Attorney median, Rhode Island | $2,750 |
| Attorney middle-50% range, Rhode Island | $2,300–$3,200 |
| 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 Rhode Island
Rhode Island’s probate system is what a funded trust bypasses entirely; here is what that system actually charges. Rhode Island charges 1% of the decedent’s personal property, with a $30 floor and a $1,500 cap that a $250,000 estate hits. Full filing-fee breakdown.
Rhode Island publishes no percentage schedule for probate compensation; the personal representative and the attorney are each paid what the court finds reasonable, so the bill tracks hours worked rather than the size of the estate. The second number is the small-estate threshold, at or under which an estate skips most of probate: $15,000 of personal property, by voluntary informal administration. Whether any of that reaches a solely owned house is answered below; it is where most published guidance goes wrong. Full Rhode Island probate cost guide, including how small an estate has to be to sidestep probate on its own.
Funding the trust in Rhode Island
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 Rhode Island turns on the same consideration-based rule most conveyance taxes use: the tax under R.I. Gen. Laws ch. 44-25 is measured against the price paid for a transfer, and a deed from you to your own revocable trust is ordinarily made for no consideration, so there is nothing for the tax to reach. Rhode Island also assesses real estate only at each city or town’s periodic full revaluation and bars any separate adjustment between cycles (R.I. Gen. Laws §44-5-12), so there is no change-in-ownership reassessment to trigger. The new deed still has to be recorded with the city or town’s land evidence records for a nominal per-page fee.
Is a living trust worth it in Rhode Island?
$2,750 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 Rhode Island 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).
- Rhode Island probate filing fee, Rhode Island probate cost, national living trust cost guide (Clear Money Guide).
- Statute/agency source, transfer-tax/recording source