Estate Planning - What is a revocable living trust?

A question I get a lot from clients and folks that come in to our offices, what's an irrevocable living trust? And I always have to stop and take a deep breath and share with them that irrevocable living trust are pretty rare. Irrevocable living trusts, living trust means it's a trust you set up while you are still alive. Irrevocable means you can't change it. What people really want me to talk to them about and what they really think they want is something called a revocable living trust. In a revocable living trust it's sometimes just called a living trust. And a living trust means that the trust you set up while you are alive, if it's revocable it means you can change it which is what ninety nine point five percent of people are going to want to do, because they don't necessarily know this is it forever. And a living trust is a document that you can create that does two things. And only two things. But it does two things really well if done correctly. One is if the person who sets up the trust becomes disabled, then the trust allows the trustee, somebody else maybe, that you selected, to manage your assets, distribute them to you, take care of you if you are incapacitated. Disabled, more mentally disabled then physically disabled. The other thing a living trust can do if it's done correctly is it can avoid the probate process. Avoiding probate is wise in many situations, not always but in many situations. Having a living trust that's done correctly allows a family to pass their assets to their loved ones and not have any court involvement. When you are talking about court, you are talking about expense. You are talking about delay and you are talking about privacy. When of the big reasons we do living trusts in our office is to ensure that our clients assets are kept private when they die.