Beginning Information

This revocable living trust form is for a single, divorced, or widowed person, with or without children.

1. Remember, when entering the information it is important to use full names and addresses. Always double check the spelling and accuracy of the information you enter. Otherwise, your successor trustee may not be able to identify your intended beneficiaries.

2. It is better to type the information necessary to complete your will and trust, because this leaves less room for error, and for misinterpretation of your wishes. Do not cross out mistakes, but rather go back and retype or rewrite the entire will and trust. At the end, there should be only one original of the will. It is acceptable to have more than one original of the trust. You may, for example, wish to retain one, and provide another copy to your successor trustee. Drafts and mistakes should be destroyed.

3. The acronym RLT in this document means Revocable Living Trust.

If you need an example trust to look at as you fill yours out, you can download one by Clicking Here

You may choose to leave all your property, or all of your property except for specified items, to your children, or to others, in equal shares by indicating this (e.g., “My ½-carat diamond engagement ring, Carol Smith; All other personal property, 50% to John Knight, 50% to Tom Day,” or “All property, Equally among my children.”). If you wish to leave a specific item or amount of money to a person or charity, list it here.

Keep in mind that in general specific requests are fulfilled first as far as assets permit (after funeral and other estate expenses), and large specific bequests here could result in no distribution to residuary beneficiaries, if the estate ends up being smaller than originally expected.

For instance, if the beneficiary and alternate beneficiary of your personal property predeceases you or are otherwise unable to take the bequest, then the person named to receive the residue of your estate would receive your personal property.

If the estate ends up being larger than expected (e.g., as the result of a life insurance policy payable to you, or a wrongful death award following your death), then the residuary amount may end up being the most significant assets distributed under the trust. You may leave bequests to children, other relatives, or ex-spouses just as you would any other beneficiary.

You may choose to leave all your property, or all of your property except for specified items, to your children in equal shares by indicating this on the first line.

Do not leave $1 to a child instead of disinheriting him or her, and do not list a reason(s) for the disinheritance.

Although the RLT contains a “no contest” clause providing that the right to receive distributions from the trust terminates upon challenging the trust, those that you entirely disinherit will have nothing to lose, and this may not prevent them from challenging your will or trust.

Here you must determine at what age any assets remaining in such a trust(s) will be distributed outright to the beneficiary(ies), at which point they will be free to spend the money as they see fit. 25 and 30 years of age are commonly used, and any age below 21 is not recommended (although as low as 18 may be acceptable).

There are two ways the trust can become funded: (1) During your lifetime, you can transfer property into the RLT; (2) Upon your death, your pour-over will transfers all of your remaining property to your RLT.

After your death, some items may be more difficult and costly to transfer than during your lifetime. Thus, it is important to list all of the items you want transferred to the RLT now. Real property should be transferred to the RLT during your lifetime by deed (listing these properties here may be useful in case you die before transferring the real property into the RLT).

Contact a real estate attorney in your area if you need assistance with this process, and be sure to contact your lender if you have a mortgage on any real property to ensure that the lender will permit the transfer of the real estate into your RLT.

Banks and brokerages will generally require that you retitle these accounts in the name of the RLT. Unless they are expensive or numerous, automobiles and other vehicles are often not transferred to an RLT; doing so may cause problems with registration and insurance.

Listing cars without retitling them is generally acceptable. Ten dollars cash is always listed as the first trust asset to avoid any state law indicating that an unfunded trust is not valid or ceases to exist.

You can add additional property later on by listing it, and signing and dating the addition. You can do the same for a deletion, except that if the title was changed, the title needs to be restored to its original state.

Please note that in New York state, all assets that are capable of being retitled into the name of the RLT, including real property, bank and brokerage accounts, and vehicles, must be formally transferred into the name of the RLT during the grantor’s lifetime.

Example:

1. Ten dollars cash

2.  The residence commonly known as 1000 Any St., Los Angeles, CA 90001

3. The contents of that residence

4. All other real property

5. All bank, stock brokerage, and other financial and securities accounts of any kind (but excluding 401k and IRA retirement accounts)

6. Small business interest: My share of my business partnership with Thomas Day in our beauty salon business “Los Angeles Hair Care”.

For example, you may forget to transfer some assets, or you may acquire additional assets after signing your RLT. If you already have a will, it is strongly recommended that you destroy all copies of it and execute a new pour-over will included. The failure to do so may result in later confusion, inconsistency, and less funding of your trust than may otherwise have occurred.

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