A living trust cost in Maryland typically runs $1,500 to $5,000 when drafted by an attorney, with the exact fee depending on the size and complexity of your estate. That range covers the trust document itself and usually a bundle of related paperwork. It does not cover funding the trust, keeping it current, or administering it after your death, all of which carry their own costs.
What Drives the Drafting Fee
Complexity is the biggest variable. A simple estate — one house, a few accounts, a short list of beneficiaries — takes far less attorney time than one with rental properties, a business, a blended family, or assets in multiple states. Each added layer means more drafting and more legal judgment.
The provisions you want also move the price. Staggered distributions to young beneficiaries, special-needs planning for a disabled family member, or coordination with tax-reduction strategies all involve more sophisticated work than “everything to my spouse, then equally to my children.”
Where your attorney practices matters too. Estate planning attorneys in Maryland typically bill $200 to $500 an hour, with the Baltimore and D.C. suburban corridors on the higher end and rural areas lower. Many firms quote a flat fee for a trust package rather than billing hourly.
Attorney Packages vs. Do-It-Yourself
Working With an Attorney
A standard revocable living trust from a Maryland attorney generally runs $1,500 to $4,000. Some firms advertise trust packages starting around $1,200 for an individual and $1,600 for a married couple, usually bundling a pour-over will, a financial power of attorney, and a healthcare directive with the trust. More complex estates involving business interests, multiple properties, or sophisticated tax planning can push the total above $5,000.
The bundle is worth understanding, because a living trust rarely stands alone. You need a pour-over will to catch any asset you forgot to transfer into the trust. You need powers of attorney for matters the trust cannot handle, such as filing tax returns or dealing with insurance claims.1Maryland Register of Wills. Revocable Living Trusts: Get the Facts Buying these documents together generally costs less than commissioning each separately.
Online Software
Online trust-creation software runs $400 to $1,000. The savings are real, and so is the risk. A trust that fails to comply with Maryland law can miss its core purpose, and a template will not flag issues specific to your situation. For very simple estates the DIY route can work; for anyone with real estate, minor children, or meaningful assets, professional drafting is safer.
What It Costs to Fund the Trust
Signing the trust document is only the first step. The trust has no effect on any asset you have not formally transferred into it, and the Maryland Register of Wills specifically warns that failing to retitle assets before death can “diminish or eliminate the benefits of having a revocable trust.”1Maryland Register of Wills. Revocable Living Trusts: Get the Facts Moving assets in is called funding, and it has its own price tag.
Real Estate
Transferring a home or other real property into your trust requires a new deed, recorded with the circuit court in the county where the property sits. Maryland law exempts these transfers from recordation tax, transfer tax, and other state or local excise taxes when the transfer is made without consideration.2New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Maryland Code Estates and Trusts 14.5-1001 – Imposition of Taxes on Transfer of Real Property Since you are moving your own property into your own trust for no payment, that exemption applies to essentially every funding situation.
You still pay the recording fee. Across Maryland counties, that generally runs around $20 for a deed of nine pages or fewer involving a principal residence, plus a $40 land records surcharge, for roughly $60 per property.3Maryland Courts. Circuit Court for Cecil County – Recording Fees and Taxes If your attorney prepares the deed, add a drafting fee of $200 to $500 per property. A single home is modest. Three rental properties in different counties add up.
Financial Accounts
Bank accounts, brokerage accounts, and similar assets are retitled by contacting the institution and completing its paperwork. The bank typically charges nothing, but each institution has its own forms and process, and the time can be significant. Your attorney may charge separately for coordinating transfers, or may include a set number in the flat fee.
Costs That Come Later
Amendments
Life changes, and the trust should change with it. A simple amendment — swapping a successor trustee, updating a beneficiary — typically costs $300 to $500. A full restatement, which rewrites the trust while keeping the original instrument intact, can exceed $2,000 when circumstances have shifted significantly.
Administration After Death
While you are alive and competent, a revocable trust costs essentially nothing to maintain. You serve as your own trustee, file taxes under your Social Security number, and can change or revoke the trust at will. The real administrative costs land after death or incapacity, when a successor trustee steps in.
If you name a family member, they can serve without charging a formal fee, though they will likely need professional help. A corporate trustee — a bank or trust company — typically charges annual fees of 1% to 2% of trust assets. Maryland’s statutory fee schedule caps trustee commissions on income at 6.5% of the first $10,000 of non-real-estate income collected each year, stepping down to 3% on amounts above $30,000. On principal, the annual commission is 0.4% on the first $250,000, stepping down to 0.1% on amounts above $1,000,000.4Justia. Maryland Code Estates and Trusts 14.5-708 – Commissions or Compensation
Once you die, the trust becomes irrevocable and needs its own Employer Identification Number from the IRS. If it earns income, the trustee must file an annual Form 1041 trust tax return. Professional preparation of a trust return starts around $1,500 and rises with complexity.
What a Living Trust Will Not Save You On
A revocable living trust provides no estate tax or inheritance tax savings. Every dollar in the trust still counts as part of your taxable estate at death.
Maryland is one of a handful of states that imposes both an estate tax and an inheritance tax. The Maryland estate tax applies to estates exceeding $5 million, well below the federal exemption.5Maryland General Assembly. Fiscal and Policy Note for Senate Bill 704 The inheritance tax applies at 10% to property passing to anyone other than a close family member; lineal descendants, spouses, parents, grandparents, siblings, stepchildren, and stepparents are all exempt.6Comptroller of Maryland. Estate and Inheritance Tax Information If you leave assets to a niece, nephew, unmarried partner, or friend, the inheritance tax hits regardless of whether the assets sat in a trust.
When the Cost Is Worth It
Most people set up a living trust to avoid probate, and whether that trade makes financial sense depends on the size of your estate. Maryland probate carries three main costs: the Register of Wills filing fee, the personal representative’s commission, and attorney fees. The filing fee scales with estate value — a $500,000 estate pays $1,000, while estates under $50,000 pay nothing.7The Office of the Register of Wills. Fees – Register of Wills
The bigger numbers are the personal representative’s commission, capped at 9% on the first $20,000 of assets and $1,800 plus 3.6% of anything above that,8Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Estates and Trusts 7-601 – Allowance of Commissions plus attorney fees, which the court sets as “reasonable compensation” with no fixed formula.9Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Estates and Trusts 7-602 – Counsel Fees On a $500,000 estate, the commission maxes out at $19,080, and attorney fees for an estate that size often rival the commission, so total probate costs can reach $30,000 to $40,000 or more.
For an estate under $50,000, Maryland probate is streamlined and inexpensive, and a $2,000 trust is hard to justify on cost alone. Once your estate reaches roughly $200,000 to $300,000, the probate costs you would avoid start to exceed what you spent creating the trust, and the math keeps improving from there.