Living Trust Articles >> What is a Revocable Living Trust?

What is a Revocable Living Trust?

A revocable living trust is a specialized form of trust created during your lifetime that also allows you to make changes to or revoke the document at any time prior to your death. Most living trusts are living revocable trusts, but some states require special wording in the actual documents to specify a living trust as a revocable living trusts. A living revocable trust becomes irrevocable upon your death.

Revocable Living Trusts

A trust is set up to allow another party, or trustee, to control particular property according to set conditions. A living trust is a trust set up while you are alive that names you as the trustee and often a beneficiary as well. This lets you control your own property while transferring ownership of those assets to a trust avoiding lengthy and expensive probate proceedings when you pass. Revocable living trusts simply have conditions that allow you or the trustee to make changes to or dissolve the trust at any time.

Basics of a Revocable Living Trust

A living trust is a part of your estate planning and as life changes you’ll likely need your estate plan to change as well. A revocable living trust offers you the flexibility that an irrevocable, or unchangeable, trust can’t while offering you substantial protection and control of your assets.

A revocable living trust is used most often to protect your estate from probate. If you leave your requests and property to be managed by a will following your death, the will must be probated which can take months or even years. Property will be held by the court as long as the probate lasts and when the process is complete the court will take a 2-4% fee. This represents thousands of dollars on most estates.

By funding a revocable living trust with your property, your assets are transferred to the revocable living trust and are no longer considered your possessions. Thus there is no need for probate upon your death. Your assets are easily and quickly distributed to your designated beneficiaries without governmental involvement although large estates will still owe estate taxes.

You have many options as to your beneficiaries and funding choices. All property can be included in a living trust and you can even arrange your trust to serve as the beneficiary for your 401k and other retirement accounts ensuring all assets are included in a single trust. This makes processing and settling your estate as simple and inexpensive as possible.

Revocable Living Trust Software

You can create revocable living trusts with the help of a lawyer, or you can create your own using revocable living trust software or downloads. These programs guide you through filling out the legal forms required by your state and allow you to print the forms upon completion. Another, far simpler options, is to download our complete revocable living trust packet which includes the same forms as the revocable living trust software, but also includes easy-to-understand information books that guide you through the steps and offer additional information about what fields you are filling out and why.