A trust is an agreement between the person making the trust (“Trustor”) and the person named to manager the trust’s assets (“Trustee”) for the benefit of other people (“Beneficiaries”).

The Revocable Living Trust is designed to:

• Avoid the delays and expenses of probate for your assets that are transferred to the Trust.

• Keep the details of your estate planning private.

• Provide a quick and well-defined way to distribute assets after your passing.

• Reduce the risk of a contested will and court challenges to your estate plan.

• Provide instructions for Trustees to manager and control the assets of the Trust.

• Easily delegate the responsabilities of managing the Trust to the successor Trustees.

The Will that we provide you in connection with your Trust is a special kind of Will commonly called a “Pourover Will.”

It is known as a Pourover Will because if you forget to transfer an asset into your Trust, this Will directs the executor to "pour over" the asset into the Trust.

If you have properly transferred all of your assets to your Trust, you won’t need this Will, but nobody’s perfect and we think that it’s best to have a back-up plan—just in case.

Even though it’s desirable to a have this Pourover Will as a back-up plan, it’s still extremely important to transfer all appropriate assets to your Trust because a Pourover Will only guarantees the right distribution of your assets—it will not necessarily allow your family to avoid probate.

The Durable General Power of Attorney gives your agent the power to act on your behalf if you are disabled and unable to make decisions for yourself.

This applies mostly to issues relating to re-titling or managing property not included in the Trust.

The Advance Directive allows you to name a person to direct your health care when you cannot do so.

You can provide instructions about decisions relating to end-of-life care and specific medical treatments you want to accept or refuse.

This is a one-page document that shows you have the authority to act as a trustee on behalf of the Trust. Without this document, you would have to show your trust when transferring assets into or out of the Trust. The Certificate of Trust will be accepted by most parties as evidence that the trustee is authorized to conduct business on behalf of the Trust.

You can change your Trust at any time. This Trust Amendment form gives you an easy way to make your changes.

Trust amendments, like the Trust itself, do not require witnesses or a notary. (This is unlike a Will and amendments to Wills–called codicils.)

Most people make at least minor changes to their Trust every three to four years. Usually, this involves changing a trustee. We send you a reminder email once a year to see if any changes to your family require a change to your Trust (or other documents).

You can fill out the form yourself–it’s easy–or you can ask us for help. We never charge for making amendments.

The Property List is legally a part of your Trust and identifies and describes all of the assets transferred to your Trust.

Include here a list of your property and related documents with copies of real estate deeds, mortgages, contracts; beneficiary designations for IRAs, annuities and insurance; bank and brokerage account assets transferred into the trust; assignments of business interests in partnerships, corporations and LLCs; bills of sale and inventory lists of personal property.

Maintaining good records of assets acquired, sold or transferred and keeping this information up to date will provide the successor Trustee with the information needed to manager the assets of the Trust.

• Initial Signing Checklist

• Trustee Checklists

• Asset Transfer Letters

• Trust Amendment Forms