A revocable living trust is a written document stating who controls your assets while you are alive (typically, you) and what will happen to those assets once you are gone. It is called "revocable" because you can change it at any time; "living" because you create and fund it while you can carry out your wishes and when you can no longer do so for yourself.

How dose a Revocable Living Trust Differ from a will?

Revocable trusts are an increasingly popular alternative to wills. Although a will states to whom you want your assets to go after your death, it takes effect only with a court order. With a revocable living trust, the court is removed from the equation. You take the necessary actions while you are alive to pass assets directly to your beneficiaries once you die. You do this by signing the title of your assets over to the trust. The property is held in your name--as trustee for your trust-- and for your benefit while you live. You can always add things to the trust, take things out of it, and amend it if you change your mind about who you wish to get what. When you die the trust passes your property directly to the people you want to have it. And it does so without probate.

What is "Funding" a Trust?

Funding the trust means transferring the title to assets into the trust. By itself, the trust documents means nothing; it's only when the trust assumes ownership of the things you intend to put into it that it becomes a useful financial tool. Our package includes forms for funding your trust.

Here's an example of funding a trust. Let's say that John and Jane Doe own a house together in their own names. They decide to create and fund a trust to hold the title to their house and other assets. After they have established the trust, they would record a new deed that would list the owner of the house as John and Jane Doe, trustees for the John and Jane Doe Revocable Trust. The house would then be "in" the trust. The trust could also change the titles on their bank accounts, stock brokerage account, and so on, so that these were also held by the trust. Doing all this is simply a matter of paperwork.

Providing for Children with a Trust

If you have children, the earlier you create your revocable living trust the better. That is true even if you do not have a lot of money. If your children are young and if anything were to happen to you, they might be at greater risk than you imagine. A court always has the last word when it comes to who is appointed legal guardian of your children; a will can only express your wishes. So, for example, if your children are under 18 and all you leave them is a life insurance policy, a guardianship for those assets will be created upon your death. Each year the guardian will have to go back to court to account for the money spent on behalf of the children. When each child reaches 18, that child's share will be legally signed over to him or her, regardless of his or her ability to handle the money. But by the time the children get the money, there will not be as much of it as there could have been, since every year there will have been guardian fees and fees to a lawyer to do the guardianship reporting. These fees are usually in the thousands of dollars.

Trusts do not address the issue of guardianship (you need a will for that). But if you die with a trust, you do get to make the important decision of how, when and for what purposes your children will receive the money you are leaving them. You can assign one or more successor trustees (your chosen guardian, for example) and instruct him or her to carry out your wishes as to when your children should receive their money and how that money should be used until that time. The successor trustee(s) can take care of your children's financial lives on your behalf. No yearly court reporting, no fees.

Our Revocable Trust packages includes all the forms you need to complete your trust. Including a pour-over-will, and forms for your banks, mortgage companies and stock brokers to fund your trust.