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Updated September 24, 2026. Quick answer: LegalTemplates surveyed 909 law firms in 2026 and found Oregon attorneys charging a median $2,500 for a revocable living trust, $2,050 to $2,950 for the middle half. That puts Oregon at the 8th-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: Oregon prices probate by estate value: $278 under $50,000, $591 for estates from $50,000 up to $1,000,000, and higher above that.
Whether the state taxes the trust’s income is a separate question: does Oregon tax trust income.
Fast routes: National living trust cost guide | Oregon probate filing fee | Oregon probate cost | Is a living trust worth it in Oregon?
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How our partner relationships workLiving trust cost in Oregon: attorney vs DIY
For reference against the national figures and the DIY floor:
| Figure | Amount |
|---|---|
| Oregon trust-drafting median | $2,500 |
| Oregon trust-drafting middle 50% | $2,050–$2,950 |
| 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 Oregon
Here is the cost side of the ledger a trust is meant to avoid in Oregon. Oregon prices probate by estate value: $278 under $50,000, $591 for estates from $50,000 up to $1,000,000, and higher above that. Full filing-fee breakdown.
Oregon fixes one half of the bill by statute and leaves the other to the court: the personal representative’s compensation is statutory; 7% of the first $1,000, then 4% on $1,000-$10,000, 3% on $10,000-$50,000 and 2% above $50,000 (ORS 116.173); while attorney fees are reasonable (ORS 116.183). The second number is the small-estate threshold, at or under which an estate skips most of probate: $75,000 of personal property and $200,000 of real property, as a simple estate. Whether any of that reaches a solely owned house is answered below; it is where most published guidance goes wrong. Full Oregon probate cost guide, and the threshold below which probate is skipped by affidavit, trust or not.
Oregon 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. ORS 130.155: “The settlor indicates an intention to create the trust…”
- Writing rule. ORS 93.020 (summarized, not quoted): no trust concerning real property can be created, transferred or declared except by operation of law or by a conveyance or other instrument in writing signed by the party creating it, or by that party’s agent under written authority, executed with the formalities the law requires.
- Deed and notary. ORS 93.410: “…shall be signed by the grantors and shall be acknowledged…”
- Certification of trust. ORS 130.860: “…all trustees execute and furnish to the person a certification of trust…”
For what the court side costs if a trust is not used, see Oregon probate cost.
Funding the trust in Oregon
Owning a trust and funding it are two different jobs. For a house, funding means recording a new deed. Funding the trust in Oregon is straightforward on the tax side: Oregon has no statewide real estate transfer tax, and ORS §306.815 bars cities and counties from creating one except for a single grandfathered local tax that predates 1997, so a deed into your own revocable trust is not taxed on that front. It also will not trigger a reassessment: under Oregon’s Measure 50 system, ORS §308.146 resets a property’s maximum assessed value only for events like new construction, subdivision, or rezoning, and a plain change of ownership, including a transfer into a revocable trust, is not on that list. The new deed still has to be recorded with the county clerk for a modest per-page fee.
Is a living trust worth it in Oregon?
The trade comes down to the $2,500 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 Oregon walks through the same trade using your own property and numbers.
Sources
- LegalTemplates, 2026 Estate Planning Costs in the US (909 firms, read September 24, 2026).
- Oregon probate filing fee, Oregon probate cost, national living trust cost guide (Clear Money Guide).
- Statute/agency source, transfer-tax/recording source