Guides › Estate, Probate & Inheritance › Living Trust Cost
Updated September 23, 2026. Quick answer: LegalTemplates surveyed 909 law firms in 2026 and found Illinois attorneys charging a median $2,600 for a revocable living trust, $2,100 to $3,000 for the middle half. That is above the $2,475 national median and the third-highest of the ten states compared here. A DIY platform runs $149 to $649. What that spend buys locally: Cook County, Illinois’s most populous, charges $479 flat to open probate, whether the estate has a will or not.
Whether the state taxes the trust’s income is a separate question: does Illinois tax trust income.
Fast routes: National living trust cost guide | Illinois probate filing fee | Illinois probate cost | Is a living trust worth it in Illinois?
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How our partner relationships workLiving trust cost in Illinois: attorney vs DIY
For reference against the national figures and the DIY floor:
| Figure | Amount |
|---|---|
| Illinois trust-drafting median | $2,600 |
| Illinois trust-drafting middle 50% | $2,100–$3,000 |
| 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 23, 2026.
What a living trust avoids: probate in Illinois
Here is the cost side of the ledger a trust is meant to avoid in Illinois. Cook County, Illinois’s most populous, charges $479 flat to open probate, whether the estate has a will or not. Full filing-fee breakdown.
Illinois publishes no percentage schedule for probate compensation: the personal representative and the attorney are each paid what the court finds reasonable (755 ILCS 5/27-1, Sec. 27-1 of the Probate Act), so the bill tracks hours worked rather than the size of the estate. Full Illinois probate cost guide, and the threshold below which probate is skipped by affidavit, trust or not.
Illinois 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. 760 ILCS 3/402: “…indicates an intention to create the trust…”
- Writing rule. 740 ILCS 80/9 (summarized, not quoted): declarations and creations of trusts of 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; trusts arising by construction, implication or operation of law need not be in writing.
- Deed and notary. 765 ILCS 5/20: “When acknowledged or proven within this State, before a notary public…”
- Certification of trust. 760 ILCS 3/1013: “…the trustee may furnish to the person a certification of trust…”
For what the court side costs if a trust is not used, see Illinois probate cost.
Funding the trust in Illinois
Owning a trust and funding it are two different jobs. For a house, funding means recording a new deed. Illinois exempts a deed into your own trust from its real estate transfer tax whenever, as is typical, no money changes hands (35 ILCS 200/31-45(e), for consideration under $100; see the Illinois Department of Revenue’s own transfer declaration instructions). The Cook County Assessor accepts a trust agreement as proof for the homeowner exemption when title sits in a trust. The deed still has to be recorded, for example $107 in Cook County.
Is a living trust worth it in Illinois?
The trade comes down to the $2,600 spent now against the court costs avoided later, plus a private, faster transfer that a will alone does not provide. The full worth-it analysis for Illinois walks through the same trade using your own property and numbers.
Sources
- LegalTemplates, 2026 Estate Planning Costs in the US (909 firms, read September 23, 2026).
- Illinois probate filing fee, Illinois probate cost, national living trust cost guide (Clear Money Guide).
- Statute/agency source, transfer-tax/recording source.