EP Wealth Advisors
July 9th, 2025
Thinking about a revocable living trust? Learn how it can support your estate plan with privacy, control, and flexibility for you during your life and for your heirs after your death.
A revocable living trust is a legal arrangement that allows you to transfer ownership of certain assets to a trust during your lifetime, while still maintaining control over them. Because the trust is revocable, it can be changed or dissolved at any time during your life, making it a flexible option in certain estate planning scenarios.
This type of trust is often used to support both lifetime management of assets and the future transfer of wealth. Although they may not be the right choice for every estate plan, revocable trusts are commonly used when:
- Avoiding probate is a priority, allowing assets to be distributed more efficiently after death
- Privacy matters, since trust documents are generally not part of the public record
- Planning for incapacity, by allowing a successor trustee to manage assets if the grantor becomes unable to do so
- Managing property in multiple states, which can reduce the need for multiple probate proceedings
- Flexibility is needed, since the terms can be adjusted during the grantor’s lifetime
- Estate planning goals involve long-term coordination, such as supporting a spouse, children, or charitable interests
