A revocable living trust is the workhorse of modern estate planning. You stay in control during life. At incapacity, your successor trustee takes over without a court guardianship. At death, assets pass to beneficiaries privately, without probate, on the timeline you choose.
Key Points
An RLT is a probate-avoidance and incapacity-management tool, not a tax shelter. Because you retain full control, the assets remain in your taxable estate. The reason to use one is operational: continuity at incapacity, privacy at death, speed of distribution, and elimination of ancillary probate in other states where you own real property.
An unfunded RLT does nothing. Real property must be deeded into the trust. Financial accounts must be retitled. Beneficiary designations on retirement and insurance must be reviewed (rarely should they name the trust outright). We handle the funding as part of the engagement and provide a funding checklist for ongoing accounts.
Frequently Asked
No. You retain control, so the assets are includable in your taxable estate. Tax reduction requires irrevocable structures (ILITs, SLATs, GRATs, dynasty trusts).
Yes. A pour-over will catches anything not titled in the trust at death and directs it into the trust. It also names guardians for minor children.
Yes. Most grantors serve as their own trustee during competency, with a successor trustee named to take over at incapacity or death.
Next Step
Fixed-fee estate planning for clients in New York, New Jersey, and Ohio.
Drew Jacobs is licensed in New York, New Jersey, and Ohio. Nothing on this page constitutes legal advice or an offer to represent you in a jurisdiction in which we are not licensed.