A flexible foundation for a plan that works during your lifetime and after your death
A Living Trust provides a framework for managing trust assets while you are living, identifies who can step in when necessary, and gives clear instructions for what should happen later.
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A Living Trust gives your plan structure for today, incapacity, and later
You create the instructions for how the trust should operate and identify the people who will be responsible for carrying them out.
For many families, it is an important foundation for a comprehensive Estate Plan. When the trust is properly established, funded, and maintained, assets held in the trust can be administered without going through probate.
You remain in control
For most clients, everyday life does not suddenly change because a trust was created. While you are able, you generally continue managing and using the property held in the trust.
A successor trustee can step in
Your trust identifies who can manage trust assets if you become unable to manage them yourself, helping create continuity without waiting for a crisis to decide who should act.
Your instructions continue later
After your death, the successor trustee follows the trust instructions, manages trust property, addresses administration responsibilities, and carries out the plan you created.
Estate planning should work while you are living
A Living Trust helps create continuity for trust assets, but it does not replace the other parts of your Estate Plan.
A Financial Power of Attorney, healthcare documents, HIPAA authorization, advance directives, and a Living Trust each have different responsibilities. Together, they help the people you trust act with clearer authority and direction if you cannot act for yourself.
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Your successor trustee follows the plan you created
After your death, the successor trustee begins the process known as Trust Administration.
The trustee follows the instructions in your trust, manages trust property, addresses the responsibilities associated with administration, communicates with beneficiaries, and distributes or continues managing assets according to your plan.
For assets properly held in the Living Trust, that process takes place outside probate.
Learn About Trust AdministrationA Living Trust provides a different path from a Will
A Will gives instructions for property that passes through probate. A properly funded Living Trust provides a framework for administering trust assets without first relying on the probate court process.
“Where there is a Will, there is a probate.”
Wills & ProbateCreating the trust is only the beginning
A Living Trust only works as intended when the assets surrounding it are properly coordinated with the plan.
Creating a Living Trust does not automatically place everything you own into the trust. Real estate, accounts, business interests, titled property, beneficiary arrangements, retirement assets, insurance, and other property may each need to be reviewed.
This process is commonly called Funding the Trust.
At Deason Garner & Sparks, we help identify what needs to happen and prepare the paperwork and instructions needed to work with banks, financial institutions, title companies, and other asset holders.
The goal is not simply to create a Living Trust. The goal is to create a Living Trust that works.
A backup matters—but the safety net is not the plan
A comprehensive Living Trust plan also includes a Pour-Over Will for certain property that may still be outside the trust when you die.
The Pour-Over Will can direct that property toward the trust so it can ultimately be handled under the trust instructions. But an asset that must pass through the Pour-Over Will may still need to go through probate before reaching the trust.
The Pour-Over Will is the safety net, not the plan for avoiding probate.
Funding is not always a one-time event
You may buy property, open accounts, change financial institutions, sell assets, or acquire something new years after the trust was created.
Keeping the trust coordinated with the life you are actually living is part of keeping the Estate Plan current.
A Living Trust can do more than name who receives an inheritance
Good Estate Planning considers who receives property, how they receive it, when they receive it, and who should manage it when additional structure makes sense.
Distribute assets directly
Some beneficiaries may be ready to receive an inheritance outright and manage it on their own.
Manage assets over time
A trust can provide instructions for assets to be managed and distributed over time rather than all at once.
Address special circumstances
Minor children, blended families, special needs, business interests, farms, or other circumstances may call for additional structure within the plan.
Living Trust questions
Can I change my Living Trust later?
A revocable Living Trust is designed to change with you. While you have the legal ability to make decisions, it can generally be amended or updated as your family, assets, goals, and circumstances change.
What does it mean to fund a Living Trust?
Funding means coordinating assets with the trust so the plan can work as intended. Depending on the asset, that may involve changing ownership, updating title, or reviewing beneficiary designations. A trust that is never properly funded may not provide the probate-avoidance benefits the family expected.
Do I still need a Will if I have a Living Trust?
Usually, a Living Trust plan also includes a Will as a backup document. The Will can address property that was not transferred to the trust and other matters that are handled outside the trust itself.
Does a Living Trust avoid probate?
A properly designed and funded Living Trust can keep trust assets out of probate. The funding step matters because the trust generally controls only the assets that have been placed into it or otherwise coordinated with the plan.
What is a Living Trust?
A Living Trust is a legal planning tool that holds and manages assets under instructions you create. For many families, it becomes the foundation of an estate plan because it offers flexibility during life and clear direction for what should happen later.
Build it. Fund it. Keep it current.
A Living Trust is most valuable when the plan is properly created, the assets are put into place, and the trust continues to reflect your life as circumstances change. We help our clients through each of those stages—and help the successor trustee when the plan needs to work.