Guides › Estate, Probate & Inheritance › Living Trust Cost
Updated September 24, 2026. Quick answer: An attorney-drafted revocable living trust in Arkansas has a median price of $3,000, with the middle half of firms charging $2,500–$3,250 (LegalTemplates’ 2026 study of 909 law firms). That puts Arkansas at the 19th-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: Arkansas charges a flat $165.00 statewide to open a probate case: $150.00 base plus a $15.00 technology fee.
Whether the state taxes the trust’s income is a separate question: does Arkansas tax trust income.
Fast routes: National living trust cost guide | Arkansas probate filing fee | Arkansas probate cost | Is a living trust worth it in Arkansas?
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How our partner relationships workLiving trust cost in Arkansas: attorney vs DIY
The numbers at a glance:
| Figure | Amount |
|---|---|
| Arkansas attorney-drafted trust, median | $3,000 |
| Arkansas attorney-drafted trust, middle 50% | $2,500–$3,250 |
| 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 Arkansas
A living trust’s whole point is dodging what comes next: probate. Arkansas would run the estate through the court process below, at the court’s own price, unless the assets are already titled in the trust’s name. Arkansas charges a flat $165.00 statewide to open a probate case: $150.00 base plus a $15.00 technology fee. Full filing-fee breakdown.
Arkansas puts probate fees on a statutory percentage schedule, so the largest single cost is anchored to published numbers rather than to an hourly rate: attorney fees for probate legal services follow a statutory schedule on the total market value of real plus personal property; 5% of the first $5,000, 4% of the next $20,000, 3% of the next $75,000 and less above that (Ark. Code §28-48-108); and the personal representative’s commission is capped separately. The second number is the small-estate threshold, at or under which an estate skips most of probate: $100,000, less encumbrances, 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 Arkansas probate cost guide, including the small-estate threshold that can skip probate without a trust at all.
Funding the trust in Arkansas
A signed trust document is not the finish line: assets still have to be retitled into the trust’s name, and for a house that means a new deed. Funding the trust in Arkansas is more nuanced than in its neighbors: Arkansas does levy a real property transfer tax under Ark. Code Ann. §26-60-105, but the tax is calculated only on actual consideration paid, and a deed into your own revocable trust carries no consideration, so nothing is owed. Arkansas’s Amendment 79 caps annual property-assessment increases at 5% for a homestead; whether that cap resets on a no-consideration deed into your own trust is not addressed in the guidance this page cites, so readers with an Amendment 79 cap in place should confirm the treatment with the county assessor before funding the trust. The new deed still has to be recorded with the county circuit clerk/recorder for a modest per-page fee.
Is a living trust worth it in Arkansas?
Weigh the $3,000 against the probate cost above, plus what a dollar figure leaves out: privacy (a trust stays off the public court record) and a faster handoff to whoever inherits. The full worth-it analysis for Arkansas works through the trade in detail for what real estate you own.
Sources
- LegalTemplates, 2026 Estate Planning Costs in the US (909 firms, read September 24, 2026).
- Arkansas probate filing fee, Arkansas probate cost, national living trust cost guide (Clear Money Guide).
- Statute/agency source, transfer-tax/recording source