How Does A Revocable Living Trust Work?

When you form a revocable living trust, you are called the “Grantor”. The person who manages your Trust, is called the “Trustee”. Generally, you will appoint yourself as your own “Trustee” for your Trust while you are alive and competent. You are in complete control of your assets and property since you are the Trustee of your own trust. And because your trust is “revocable”, you can always revise, amend, or revoke the trust for any reason and at any time up until the day you die, or become incapacitated and unable to make decisions on your own. Your Trust is called a “living trust” because it becomes operable while you are still living.

You revocable Trust begins to function while you are alive when you transfer assets into your Trust. This process of transferring assets into your Trust is called “funding” your trust. You fund your Trust after it is formed. Funding your Trust before you die is the key to avoiding Probate. Funding your Trust can be somewhat complicated and time-consuming. The Mendez Law Firm can help you and provide guidance in ensuring that your Trust is funded with all of your assets.

But placing assets inside your Trust does not mean that you lose control over what you own. Not at all. As long as you are mentally competent, you are in control of all of your assets and can use the trust property however you see fit.

If you become mentally incapacitated, and unable to make decisions, the person that you appoint as your alternate decision-maker steps in. That alternate person is called your “Successor Trustee”. Your Successor Trustee then manages the trust property according to the instructions that you wrote in your trust, and for your use and benefit while you are alive but incapacitated.

If you recuperate and regain your mental capacity, you once again regain the authority to manage and control all of your property and assets inside of your living trust.

What happens to your Trust when you pass away? When you die, that’s when the instructions you have given to your Successor Trustee become operable. Most importantly, your Trust can no longer be revised, amended, or revoked in any way by your Successor Trustee or anyone else after you die. And because property that’s been transferred into, and held in a Trust does not go to Probate, your Successor Trustee can immediately transfer the property that you designated in your Trust to your beneficiaries. There is no Probate and no delays.

How do your beneficiaries receive your Trust assets? After you die, some paperwork is necessary to effectuate the transfer of the trust property out of your name and into that of your beneficiaries; such as preparing new deeds and other ownership documents. Still these matters can normally be handled in no more than a few weeks with little time spent by your lawyer. And once the Trust property is properly transferred out of your Trust to the beneficiaries, your Trust ceases to exist.

Have any other questions about how a Trust works, and how a Trust can benefit you and your family?

Call us at (407)380-7724 or email us at mail@themendezlawfirm.com to schedule your FREE Consultation, with no cost and no obligation to you. If you are looking for a Florida estate planning attorney in the Greater Orlando Area, we are here to help with all your Estate Planning and Asset Protection needs.

The Mendez Law Firm… protecting you, your loved ones, and your business.