The Revocable Living Trust Is It Right For You: Fill & Download for Free

For really easy to comprehend legal information that helps answer questions like this I go to the Articles on LegalNature's website.To help provide more information to answer your question I'd suggest you read:Advantages of a Living TrustIs a Revocable Living Trust Right for You? A revocable living trust can be changed and amended as needed.How Does a Living Trust Avoid Probate?Because I do believe a living trust is what you may be looking for, and it definitely is worth the time and effort for any size estate, no matter how small. But you can also read through some of the articles about wills as well.

I think you need to determine exactly what your legal situation is, because this just doesn’t sound right.1.) You cannot inherit property that is in a Living Trust. When the Grantor of the Living Trust dies, the Living Trust ceases to exist. That’s why it is called a “Living” Trust.2.) A Living Trust cannot even own real property. A Living Trust is not a legal entity. It is an Estate Planning tool that manages property and income during the life of the Grantor. The real property is still owned by the Grantor.3.) It is not possible for you to be the owner of real estate and “cannot actually do anything with the property.” You might have something like a Remainderman Interest or even a Contingent Remainderman Interest, or various other estates of interest, depending on the state in which you live. You might even be the owner of the property, with someone else having the right to live in it for the rest of their life, but they would not have the right to move out and rent it and receive the rental income.The complete name of a Living Trust is “The John Smith Revocable Living Trust.” That means that John Smith, the Grantor, can revoke the trust up to the moment of his death. Now, the terms of the Revocable Living Trust can provide that upon the death of the Grantor, the trust becomes irrevocable, and in that case there will be provisions for what happens to all of the assets after the death of the Grantor. There will be a new entity spring into existence that is called “The John Smith Trust” and it will have a Trustee. This is why some people try to use this device instead of using a Will and going through probate. In my experience, it fails more often than it succeeds, and then you have someone who died without a Will, and the assets can go to people that the Deceased did not want to have them.There are a number of these time bombs out there ticking away. But I digress.I hope this helps.Good Luck.Michael Lantrip

I have had a revocable living trust since 1985 as my estate planning vehicle and have helped create and fund numerous revocable living trusts for clients. The usual process:Create the trust document and transfer a nominal amount of money (eg, $10) from yourself to yourself, as Trustee, to confirm its existence. Also create a valid pour-over Will.Transfer and retitle all of your assets held individually to yourself, as Trustee: bank, investment, and trading accounts; vehicles (cars, trucks, boats, trailers, planes, etc.); all real property (land, homes, mineral rights, etc.); all your other tangible personal property (personal effects, household furniture and furnishings, etc.); all other property that would land in your probate estate upon your death.The biggee: Ensure that in your future, when you acquire additional property, you title it in the name of your trust and NOT IN YOUR INDIVIDUAL NAME! The point being that at your death, ALL of your property should have been transferred to and titled in the name of your trust.Note: I have not discussed the wisdom of using a revocable living trust as one’s estate planning vehicle. That will vary upon the laws of your jurisdiction and the costs of probate there. For example, there is much more reason to use a revocable living trust vs. a Will in CA than in WA. Please consult with an experienced estate planning attorney in your jurisdiction to see if a revocable living trust might be right for you.Richard Wills, retired probate attorney originally licensed in CA & WA