Tips to Use Your Revocable Living Trust Effectively


  • A Revocable Living Trust allows the person creating same to alter, amend or terminate the trust while they are still alive and competent. A Revocable Living Trust can be created by you individually or with your spouse.

  • A Revocable Living Trust must be funded or it will be useless. This means that you must title assets that you own in the name of the Revocable Living Trust. For example, your real estate, automobiles, bank accounts, etc. Any assets not transferred into the Revocable Living Trust can be transferred at death by a properly executed Pour Over Will.

  • A Revocable Living Trust can provide key estate planning protection for individuals who are in a subsequent marriage. It can allow protection for both spouses and their respective children.

  • A Revocable Living Trust can provide estate planning strategies that can offer substantial tax savings by providing tools needed to maximize the federal estate tax exemptions for both married and single individuals.

  • A Revocable Living Trust can offer key advantages for business succession planning. It can direct a family how to continue operating the family business in the event of a death or disability.

  • A properly funded Revocable Living Trust can keep your estate private by avoiding Probate Court and keeping your assets and heirs from being publicized. It also gives your heirs immediate access to your estate instead of waiting the minimum six months as required in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. In addition, if you have real estate in multiple states, by having them properly transferred in to the name of the Revocable Living Trust, you will avoid multiple probate proceedings in each state that you have real estate, also known as ancillary probate.

  • A Revocable Living Trust can protect your assets from judgments, creditor claims and lawsuits filed against your estate or your beneficiaries after your death.

  • A Revocable Living Trust can allow disabled beneficiaries to maintain eligibility for public benefits through a "Special Needs Trust" which can be established to protect the beneficiary or beneficiaries against penalties or disqualification.