Updated July 23, 2026. Quick answer: At national medians, an attorney-drafted living trust package costs about $1,850 more than a will package ($2,475 vs $625). Whether that premium pays for itself depends almost entirely on what probate would cost in your state. In statutory-fee states the answer is computable: a $1,000,000 gross estate in California generates up to $46,000 in combined statutory attorney and executor compensation that a funded trust avoids — 25x the premium. In “reasonable fee” states the avoided cost is smaller and depends on complexity. The calculator below does the math for all 50 states and DC from the statutes.

Fast routes: Probate cost by state | Small-estate limits by state | How much estate planning costs | Ancillary probate calculator

Will vs trust breakeven calculator

Your state

Gross estate value ($)

Attorney-drafted trust package cost ($ — national median prefilled)

Attorney-drafted will package cost ($ — national median prefilled)

How the breakeven works

A revocable living trust does one financially measurable thing a will cannot: assets properly titled in the trust skip probate. So the honest comparison is trust premium (trust cost minus will cost) against probate professional fees avoided. In the seven statutory-schedule states and the hybrid states with executor schedules, that avoided number comes straight from the statute — this calculator applies the exact tiers, labeled as mandatory, presumptive, minimum, maximum, or cap to match what each statute actually says. In reasonable-fee states there is no schedule to compute, so the calculator tells you that plainly instead of inventing a number.

The probate number the breakeven depends on

The breakeven above turns entirely on what probate would actually cost, and that is a state question, not a national one. In the seven jurisdictions with a statutory percentage schedule the figure can be computed exactly rather than estimated: California, Florida, Nevada, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Wyoming. Everywhere else the standard is “reasonable” compensation, so the number depends on hours and complexity. Look up your state at probate cost by state, or run the estate through the probate cost calculator before deciding.

Three honest caveats before you decide

Trusts only avoid probate for funded assets. An unfunded trust — where accounts and deeds were never retitled — avoids nothing. Funding is also why trust quotes differ: ask whether retitling is included.
Executor commissions are often waived. A family member serving as executor can decline the commission (it is taxable income; an inheritance is not). If your executor would waive it, compare against the attorney line alone.
Small estates may not need either strategy. Every state has a threshold under which heirs skip formal probate — check the small-estate limits table first; beneficiary designations and TOD registrations avoid probate for free.

The numbers are the start, not the decision

Taxes, incapacity planning, blended families, and state quirks all push the will-vs-trust decision beyond fee math — that judgment is what you pay a planner or estate attorney for. See what estate planning costs, and how the advisor matching services compare if you want help with the full picture.

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Is a living trust worth it in your state?

Whether a trust pays for itself depends on what probate actually costs where you live, and on whether your state’s small-estate shortcut can clear a house — it cannot in most of them. Each page below works the arithmetic for one state from its own statutes.

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Methodology

This page was materially reviewed on July 23, 2026. Fee schedules are encoded from state statutes (citations in the probate cost by state table), independently verified against primary sources, and the calculator’s arithmetic is tested against hand-computed examples (e.g., California $500,000 → $13,000 per role; New York $1,000,000 executor commission → $34,000). Default document costs are national medians from the sources on our estate planning cost page. Estimates are educational, exclude court filing fees except Connecticut’s statutory estate fee, and are not legal, tax, or financial advice. See our Editorial Policy, Corrections, Affiliate Disclosure, and Disclaimer.