William Daniel Powell
William Daniel Powell is a San Diego attorney that focuses his practice in the Estate Planning area helping families and individuals with Estate Planning needs. This is his regular blog where he writes on various subjects relating to estate planning and estate law.
What is a Revocable Living Trust? Will I lose Control of my Property?
Name Game
So what is a Revocable Living Trust anyway? First let’s clear up some of the various names used for this estate planning device. This Trust can go by a few different names including a Revocable Trust, a Living Trust, and a Revocable Living Trust. By any of these names, they are all the same device: a Trust that is revocable or amendable during the lifetime of the person that creates the Trust.
What is a Revocable Living Trust?
Now let’s talk about what a Revocable Living Trust is, and what it can do for you. A truly brilliant estate planning attorney from Colorado named Lew Dymond described it best in my opinion. Think of the Revocable Trust as a bucket. It is a bucket that you create. After you have created this bucket you are free to put items into, and take items out of it whenever you like. Moreover, because this is your bucket, you are holding onto the handle and control it completely. So as you can see, with the Revocable Living Trust you do not lose control of your property.
Additional Benefits to Creating a Revocable Trust
There may be a few more things that you are concerned about like taxes, incapacity, and how your family is to be taken care of when you are gone.
First let’s talk about taxes. You may be concerned that creating a Trust will require a special tax return and additional red tape. The good news is that while you are alive and holding your bucket, any income that is made from items inside your Revocable Living Trust bucket utilizes your Social Security Number. Therefore no additional tax return is required just because you now have a Revocable Trust.
Another great thing about creating your own bucket is that you can decide who holds the bucket at various times and circumstances. What happens if you unfortunately develop Alzheimer’s or otherwise lose mental capacity? Well, you can define who controls the bucket, and how that person is to deal with the contents both during your incapacity and beyond.
There are a lot of benefits to a Revocable Living Trust, but also a lot of twists and turns not discussed here. Call me today and let’s start creating your own custom made bucket.
William “Dan” Powell
****Reminder****
Just like my website, nothing in this blog is intended as legal advice. If you need legal advice, contact an attorney licensed to practice in your jurisdiction. I am licensed to practice law in California. Further, please remember that I speak in generalities in my blog (and on my website). There are so many different factors that can contribute and completely change the outcome that it would not be practical to discuss all of them here. This is why I speak in generalities. Thanks again for reading.
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