Living Trust
Also called: revocable living trust, inter vivos trust, revocable trust
Updated June 7, 2026
How a living trust works
You create the trust document, transfer your assets into it (a step called "funding" the trust), and serve as your own trustee during your lifetime. You name a successor trustee to step in when you are no longer able to act or when you pass. At your death, the successor trustee distributes the trust assets according to your instructions — no court required.
What a living trust does not do
- It does not replace a will — you still need a "pour-over will" to catch anything not titled in the trust.
- It does not protect assets from creditors during your lifetime the way an irrevocable trust might.
- It does not reduce estate taxes on its own.
- It does not eliminate the need for a trustee to manage and administer the trust after your death.
The trust document and where to keep it
A living trust works only if your successor trustee can find it and act on it. The trust document, along with the deeds and account registrations that fund the trust, should be stored somewhere accessible and secure — and your successor trustee should know where to look.
Related terms
- Trustee — A trustee is the person or institution responsible for managing the assets held inside a trust, in accordance with the trust document and in the interest of the beneficiaries. The trustee holds legal title to the trust property but must use it only for the purposes the trust specifies.
- Successor Trustee — A successor trustee is the person or institution named in a trust document to step in and manage the trust when the original trustee can no longer serve — typically because of death, incapacity, or resignation. In a revocable living trust where the grantor serves as their own initial trustee, the successor trustee is the person who carries out the trust's instructions after the grantor's death.
- Testamentary Trust — A testamentary trust is a trust created by the instructions in a will, which comes into existence only after the testator dies and the will has been admitted to probate. Unlike a living trust, it does not exist during the testator's lifetime and does not avoid probate — the assets must pass through probate before they can be transferred into the trust.
- Beneficiary — A beneficiary is a person or organization designated to receive an asset or benefit from a will, trust, life insurance policy, retirement account, or other arrangement. Being named a beneficiary gives someone a legal right to receive that specific asset — often outside of probate — when the owner passes.
- Probate — Probate is the court-supervised process of proving a will is valid, settling the deceased's debts and taxes, and distributing what remains to the people entitled to it. It applies whether or not there is a will, and it is overseen by a probate court in the county where the person lived.
Legatus Vault keeps your wills, trusts, and estate documents in one secure place and releases them — only when the time comes, and only after careful verification — to the people you choose.