Also known as: revocable living trust · revocable trust · living trust · RLT · revocable inter vivos trust
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A trust created by a settlor during life that remains subject to the settlor's power to revoke or amend until death. The settlor retains full control over the trust property and may direct the trustee's actions. Capacity to create, amend, or revoke the trust equals the capacity required to execute a will.
Rowan Russell, while hospitalized, executes a revocable living trust naming her nephew as trustee and directing distribution of her business interests at death. Her siblings contest the trust on grounds that Rowan lacked capacity. The court applies the same standard used for wills and upholds the trust because Rowan understood the nature of her assets and the disposition she directed.
Roger Ramirez creates a revocable living trust and transfers substantial assets into it before death. After his passing, a state probate court issues a decree characterizing the trust assets. In subsequent federal estate-tax litigation, the federal court refuses to treat the state decree as binding because the United States was not a party to the state proceeding.
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Ryan Roberts funds a revocable living trust and later amends it to change remainder beneficiaries. Following his death, a state trial court determines the validity of the amendment. In a later federal tax controversy, the federal agency declines to treat the state adjudication as conclusive because the United States was not joined as a party.
No. Property acquired during marriage remains marital even after transfer into a revocable living trust. The trust form affects only legal title and management, not the underlying marital character of the asset.
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Yes under the majority statutory approach. Divorce revokes any revocable disposition or fiduciary nomination in favor of a former spouse unless the instrument, court order, or property agreement expressly preserves the designation.
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No. Because the settlor retains the power to revoke, the assets pass outside probate directly to the designated beneficiaries upon the settlor's death.
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Yes. Courts treat such trusts as illusory transfers, allowing the surviving spouse to include the trust assets when calculating the elective share.
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…end our analysis. For example, in Sullivan v. Burkin , 390 Mass. 864, 867 (1984), we ruled prospectively that the assets of a revocable trust will be considered part of the “estate of the decedent” in determining the surviving spouse’s statutory share. Treating the components of the decedent’s estate plan separately, and not as…