What You Are Buying: Documents or Counsel
Let us start where a fair comparison has to start. LegalZoom is a legitimate document service, and this page is not here to tell you otherwise. For some people, documents are genuinely all that is needed, and we say so further down. The comparison that matters is not "good versus bad." It is what each purchase contains.
A document service sells documents. You answer its questions through its online process, it assembles the papers, and its own terms tell you what it is not doing (we quote them below). A law firm sells counsel. A lawyer reads your facts, tells you what you need, including when the answer is a cheaper tool than the one you came in asking for, does the transfer work that makes a trust function, and stands professionally behind the result. Those are different products at different prices, and the rest of this page lays both out with real numbers. If you want the wider tool-versus-attorney question, beyond any one brand, that comparison lives on our online estate planning vs attorney page.
LegalZoom's Posted Prices and What They Include
Here is what LegalZoom's living-trust page posted on August 11, 2026, stated exactly, because a fair comparison uses their numbers, not a caricature of them. The Basic package was $399 for one person and $499 for a couple. The Premium package was $549 and $649. Promotional discounts were displayed that day, and their current site controls if anything has changed.
The Basic package listed these contents. A living trust, a pour-over will, a health-care directive, a financial power of attorney, a HIPAA authorization, a certificate of trust, a schedule of assets, a bill of transfer, 30 days of revisions, and printing and shipping. Premium added unlimited 30-minute attorney consultations for one year through a subscription that renews at $199 per year, unlimited revisions for one year, and discounts on other services. That is a substantial stack of paper for the money, and the couple's package doubles the personal documents.
Two facts on that page deserve your attention before you buy. First, the attorney access in Premium is a one-year subscription with a renewal price, not an attorney engagement; the advice relationship ends unless you keep paying. Second, one item a Florida homeowner needs was not among the listed package contents, a Florida deed transferring your home into the trust, or the recording of one. The schedule of assets and bill of transfer address other property; the deed to your house is its own legal document with its own Florida rules. Why that one item carries so much weight is the funding-gap section below.
What Our Flat Fees Include
Our trust-based plan is a flat $3,200 for one person and $4,500 for a couple, posted June 2026 and honored for 90 days. The fee covers the revocable trust, a pour-over will, a durable power of attorney, your health-care documents (surrogate, living will, and HIPAA release), a certification of trust for the banks, and one deed moving your Florida home into the trust, prepared and recorded, with guidance for retitling your accounts. The only additions are government costs like recording fees, passed through at cost with no markup. The full breakdown is on our living trust cost page and the firm price list.
The menu goes down as well as up, because a trust is not always the right purchase. A will-based plan is $1,200 for one person or $1,950 for a couple. A standalone simple will is $299. And a lady bird deed, the tool that keeps a Florida home out of probate with no trust at all, is $399, or $449 for a couple, plus recording. We would rather match you to the $399 line than sell you the $3,200 one you do not need.
The Side-by-Side Comparison
Only substantiated facts go in this table. LegalZoom's side is what its living-trust page posted on August 11, 2026, and our side is our posted fee schedule.
| Item | LegalZoom (as posted 8/11/2026) | Our flat-fee plan |
|---|---|---|
| Price, one person | Basic $399; Premium $549 | $3,200, one flat fee |
| Price, couple | Basic $499; Premium $649 | $4,500, one flat fee |
| Documents | Living trust, pour-over will, health-care directive, financial power of attorney, HIPAA authorization, certificate of trust, schedule of assets, bill of transfer | Revocable trust, pour-over will, durable power of attorney, health-care surrogate, living will, HIPAA release, certification of trust |
| Deed funding your Florida home | Not among the listed package items | Included. One funding deed, prepared and recorded (recording costs at cost) |
| Legal advice | Basic has none, and the site states LegalZoom is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice, with a subsidiary-firm exception. Premium adds attorney consultations for one year, renewing at $199 per year | Included. The attorney who drafts the plan advises you, before you buy and after you sign |
| Fee terms | Prices as posted that day; promotional discounts displayed; consult subscription renews yearly | Posted June 2026, honored 90 days; government costs passed through at cost |
LegalZoom package contents and prices are as posted on its living-trust page on August 11, 2026, and may change; the current listing on LegalZoom's own site controls.
The Funding Gap: An Unfunded Trust Does Nothing
Here is the single most important sentence in this comparison. A trust controls only the assets titled into it. Signing the trust is not the finish line. The home must be deeded into the trust, and the accounts retitled, before the trust avoids probate for any of them. A trust that never gets funded is a filing cabinet with nothing inside; at your death, the estate goes through probate anyway, which is precisely the outcome the trust was bought to prevent. The pour-over will catches what was left out, but it moves those assets into the trust through probate, not around it.
For most Florida families the main asset is the home, and moving a home means a deed, drafted for Florida, executed correctly, recorded with the county, with homestead protection and the property-tax exemption preserved. That is why our flat fee includes preparing and recording the funding deed rather than leaving it as homework, and why the unfunded trust is the failure we see most in the plans that reach us after a death, wherever they were drafted. The step-by-step of what goes into a trust, and what deliberately stays out, is on our guide to funding a Florida trust.
Deciding between a document package and a plan?
A free 30-minute consult tells you honestly which column you belong in, trust, will, or a $399 deed, with flat fees quoted before you commit to anything.
Book your free consultThe Florida Rules That Need a Judgment Call
A standardized document can be perfectly drafted and still be the wrong plan, because Florida layers rules on top of your wishes that a questionnaire has no way to weigh for you. Three of them do most of the damage.
- Homestead. Florida's constitution restricts who can receive your home at death. If you leave a spouse or a minor child, the home generally cannot be left to anyone else, and a plan that tries is simply ineffective as to the house. A trust drafted without this in view collides with the rule at the worst possible moment.
- A spouse's elective share. Florida law lets a surviving spouse claim roughly 30% of a broad slice of your estate, including many trust assets, no matter what the documents say. Blended-family plans that ignore it invite exactly the fight they were written to prevent. Our elective share guide walks through it.
- Execution. The parts of a revocable trust that give away property at death must be signed with the same formalities as a Florida will, including two witnesses. A trust signed casually at a kitchen table can fail on formalities alone.
None of these is a secret, and none of them is a criticism of any document service. They are judgment calls about whether your facts trigger the rule, and what to draft around it. That judgment is the thing a document, by itself, does not contain. It is also where courtroom experience pays for itself. Kevin litigates estate and trust disputes, including the failures of plans that looked complete on paper, and drafts against exactly those failure patterns.
When You Do Not Need a Trust at All
Now the part of this comparison that flips the price story entirely. The cheapest trust is the one you never buy. If you own one Florida home and want it to pass to adult children who get along, a lady bird deed at $399, paired with beneficiary designations on your accounts, keeps the estate out of probate with no trust, no funding project, and no annual anything. That answer costs less than a document-service trust package and a fraction of our own trust plan, and we recommend it regularly.
A trust earns its higher price when your life has more moving parts, such as property in more than one state, minor or special-needs children whose inheritance should be managed, a blended family that needs precision, privacy, or a plan for your own incapacity. The point is that "trust or no trust" is the first decision, and it is a decision about your facts, not about which website has the better price. Our two-minute which-plan quiz gives you a first read, and the free consult settles it before you spend anything. Comparing wills instead of trusts? That version is at LegalZoom will vs attorney.
Who Answers If the Plan Fails
Read LegalZoom's own words, from its site as of August 11, 2026. "LegalZoom is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice, except where authorized through its subsidiary law firm LZ Legal Services, LLC." That is not a hidden confession; it is an accurate description of what a document service is, stated plainly, and it is the sentence to weigh against the price difference.
When a Florida lawyer prepares your plan, the advice itself is part of the product. The lawyer is bound by the Florida Bar's rules of professional conduct, owes you a duty of competence, and answers professionally if the work was wrong for your situation. When a document service prepares your papers, its terms tell you that no one has advised you, so the questions that decide whether the plan works, is this trust the right tool, does homestead permit this, will the spouse's share unravel it, was it ever funded, were answered by you alone. Both purchases are legitimate. Only one of them comes with someone whose job it is to be right about your plan, and that is the honest difference the $3,200 buys.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a LegalZoom Trust Valid in Florida?
It can be. A revocable trust prepared through a document service can be valid in Florida when it is executed correctly, which for the parts that dispose of property at death means the same formalities as a will, including two witnesses. Validity is honestly not the usual problem. The failures we actually see are different. Trusts that were never funded, so the home still goes through probate; plans that collide with Florida's homestead rules or a spouse's rights; and trusts that were the wrong tool for the family in the first place. Those problems surface after death, when nobody can fix them.
Is LegalZoom Good for Wills and Trusts?
It depends on what you need. For someone with a simple estate who knows exactly which documents fit and executes them correctly, a document service can produce a valid Florida will or trust. The pattern we see in consults is that the document itself is rarely the problem; the judgment calls around it are. Whether you need a trust at all, how Florida homestead and a spouse's rights shape the plan, and whether the trust actually gets funded are questions the packages leave to you. When any of those apply, the money saved on documents tends to get spent later, with interest, in probate.
How Much Does a LegalZoom Living Trust Cost?
As posted on LegalZoom's living-trust page on August 11, 2026, the Basic package was $399 for one person and $499 for a couple, and the Premium package was $549 and $649, with promotional discounts displayed that day. Premium includes attorney consultations for one year through a subscription that renews at $199 per year. Their current site controls if those numbers have changed. The packages are document bundles; the site states that LegalZoom is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice, except where authorized through its subsidiary law firm.
How Much Does an Attorney Living Trust Cost in Florida?
At our firm, a complete trust-based plan is a flat $3,200 for one person and $4,500 for a couple, covering the revocable trust, a pour-over will, a durable power of attorney, your health-care documents, a certification of trust, and one deed moving your Florida home into the trust, prepared and recorded. Across Florida, attorney-prepared trusts commonly run from about $1,500 to over $5,000. Our fees are posted, honored for 90 days, and government costs like recording are passed through at cost.
Does LegalZoom Put My House Into the Trust?
The package contents posted on the LegalZoom living-trust page we reviewed on August 11, 2026 list a certificate of trust, a schedule of assets, and a bill of transfer. A Florida deed transferring your home into the trust, and the recording of one, were not among the listed items. For a Florida homeowner, that deed is the funding step that keeps the house out of probate, and it has homestead wrinkles worth getting right. Our flat fee includes preparing and recording that deed.
Can You Review a Trust I Bought Online?
Yes, and it is a common consult. We check three things, starting with whether the trust was executed to Florida's standard, then whether it was actually funded (is the home deeded in, are the accounts retitled), and whether the plan fits Florida law and your family, including homestead and a spouse's rights. Sometimes the answer is that the trust is fine and only the funding is missing, which is inexpensive to fix while you are alive. Sometimes the honest answer is that you never needed a trust at all.
What Happens If My Trust Is Never Funded?
The trust controls only the assets titled into it. A signed, notarized, beautifully printed trust with nothing inside it sends your estate through probate anyway, which is usually the exact outcome you paid to avoid. A pour-over will catches the leftovers, but it moves them into the trust through probate, not around it. The unfunded trust is the single most common way living-trust plans fail, whoever drafted them, and it is why funding is built into our fee rather than left as homework.
Do I Even Need a Trust?
Maybe not, and this is where we may surprise you. If you own one Florida home and want it to pass to adult children who get along, a lady bird deed at $399, plus beneficiary designations on your accounts, can keep the estate out of probate without any trust. That answer is cheaper than a document-service trust and cheaper than ours. A trust earns its price when there is more going on, such as property in two states, minor or special-needs children, a blended family, or someone to protect if you lose capacity. The free consult sorts you into the right column before you spend anything.
What About a LegalZoom Will vs an Attorney Will?
The same comparison at a smaller price gap. A Florida will must be signed with two witnesses under strict execution rules, and the self-proving affidavit that smooths probate is the step template wills most often miss. Our standalone will is a $299 flat fee, prepared and executed correctly, with an attorney confirming it actually says what you intend, so the price difference between a template and counsel is small and the failure cost lands on your family during probate.
Common Situations
The trust that never got the house. A Sarasota couple bought an online trust package years ago, signed everything, and filed it away satisfied. The home was never deeded into the trust. At the first death, the family discovered the trust controlled a checking account and nothing else, and the house, the one asset that mattered, headed for probate. Caught while both spouses were alive, the fix would have been one recorded deed. Caught afterward, it was a court file.
The widow who needed the $399 answer. A Tampa widow came in braced to spend thousands on a trust because a checklist told her probate was the enemy. Her estate was one home and two adult children who get along. A lady bird deed at $399 plus beneficiary designations did the whole job. She did not need our trust plan, and she did not need anyone's document package either. The honest answer was the cheapest one on the menu.
The blended family whose form fit no one. A remarried homeowner used a standardized trust to leave the house to his children from his first marriage. Florida's homestead rule and his new spouse's elective share both cut across the plan, and after his death the children and the widow spent two years litigating what a single planning conversation would have surfaced. On his facts, the trust needed different architecture, and the house needed different handling entirely.
Sources of Law
- LegalZoom living-trust packages, pricing, contents, and the quoted disclaimer: legalzoom.com living-trust overview (retrieved August 11, 2026; prices and contents as posted that day, with promotional discounts displayed; the current listing controls).
- Florida revocable trusts: Fla. Stat. ch. 736 (Florida Trust Code); §736.0403(2)(b) (testamentary aspects of a revocable trust must be executed with the formalities of a will); §732.502 (will execution; two witnesses); §736.1017 (certification of trust).
- Homestead devise restrictions: Fla. Const. Art. X, §4(c) and Fla. Stat. §732.401 (limits on leaving the homestead when survived by a spouse or minor child).
- Elective share: Fla. Stat. §§732.201 to 732.2155 (30% of the elective estate under §732.2065, reaching many revocable-trust assets). (Florida statutes retrieved August 11, 2026.)
- Our fees: posted fee schedule (June 2026), honored 90 days from the posted date; government costs (recording, documentary stamps, certified copies) are additional and passed through at cost. Fees are not a prediction of outcome.
Get matched to the right plan, at a posted price
Book a free 30-minute consult. We will tell you whether you need a trust, a will, or a $399 deed, quote the flat fee up front, and include the funding work that makes it real.
Updated on August 11, 2026. Reviewed by Kevin D. Klagge, Esq., Fla. Bar No. 99502. Attorney Kevin Klagge represents families, businesses, and international clients in estate and tax planning, business structuring, and international law, with a focus on Florida legal tools. He litigates estate and business issues in court. This article is general information about Florida law and posted pricing, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. LegalZoom is a trademark of its owner; we are not affiliated with or endorsed by LegalZoom, and its pricing and package details are stated as posted on its public website on August 11, 2026 and may change. Our fees are honored as posted for 90 days; government costs are additional at cost. Your result depends on your specific facts. Do not send confidential information until we have agreed to represent you.