A Revocable Living Trust is a written legal contract involving three parties: the Trustmaker (also known as a Grantor, Trustor or Settlor), the Trustee and the Beneficiary. At the outset, upon creation of the trust, the Trustmaker, Trustee and Beneficiary are one-in-the same person. Furthermore, there can be two or more Trustmakers, Trustees or Beneficiaries at any given time.

After the Trustmaker and Trustee sign the Revocable Living Trust contract, the Trustmaker funds the Revocable Living Trust (i.e. re-titles assets into the name of the Revocable Living Trust). This is a crucial step. Once the Revocable Living Trust has been signed and funded, the Trustee manages and distributes the assets of the Revocable Living Trust according to the instructions in the contract.

Later, if the Trustmaker/Trustee becomes incapacitated (as defined in the Revocable Living Trust agreement), then the successor Trustee effortlessly manages and distributes the assets of the Revocable Living Trust for the Trustmaker/Beneficiary in accordance with the trust’s instructions. Since the Trustee holds legal title to the Revocable Living Trust’s assets for the Beneficiary, the Probate Court doesn’t have to interfere in the financial affairs of the incapacitated Trustmaker/Beneficiary.

Lastly upon the Trusmaker/Trustee/Benficiaries death the Revocable Living Trust becomes irrevocable and the succeeding Trustee manages and distributes the Revocable Living Trust assets for the succeeding Beneficiary in accordance with the instructions in the trust. In most jurisdictions, the Probate Court doesn’t have to interfere in this process of transferring assets from the deceased Trustmaker to their Beneficiary.

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