Should We Put Our Home in a Revocable Trust or a Will?

For most people, a revocable living trust ends up being the more hassle-free option, but more “hassle-free” doesn’t always mean “cheaper” upfront — it depends a lot on your state.

Here’s the tradeoff in plain terms:

Will only:

• Cheaper and simpler to set up now.

• But when you pass away, the home has to go through probate before it can be transferred to your kids. Probate is the court process that validates the will and oversees distribution.

• Probate takes time (often several months to over a year) and costs money — court fees, and often attorney/executor fees. In some states (California is a well-known example), those fees are set by law as a percentage of the estate’s value, which can get expensive fast when a home is involved. In other states, probate is simpler and cheaper, especially for smaller or simpler estates.

• Probate records are also public, so the details of what you owned and who gets what aren’t private.

Revocable living trust:

• Costs more to set up now — you pay an attorney to draft the trust, and you have to actually “fund” it (retitle the home into the trust’s name, which usually means a new deed).

• But when you pass away, the home doesn’t go through probate at all. Whoever you named as successor trustee can transfer the house to your kids directly, usually much faster and with far less cost and no public record.

• Bonus: A trust also protects you if you become incapacitated before you die — your successor trustee can step in and manage the property without a court-supervised conservatorship, which a will doesn’t do.

One more option worth asking about: Many states allow a transfer-on-death deed (sometimes called a beneficiary deed) for real estate. It is a simple document you record now that says the home passes directly to your kids at your death — no probate, no trust needed. It is cheaper than a trust but only works for that one asset, and not every state offers it.

On the cost question specifically: If you are in a state with expensive, percentage-based probate fees, the trust often pays for itself, sometimes many times over, especially since a home is usually your priciest asset. If you’re in a state with cheap, streamlined probate (or a small estate exemption that might cover your situation), the math is closer, and a will (or a transfer-on-death deed) might genuinely be the more economical route.

Since probate rules and costs vary quite a bit by state, consult with an estate planning attorney in your state — many offer flat fees for a will versus trust setup, so you can compare real numbers for your situation rather than guessing.