One of the most important things you might do in your lifetime is prepare for what happens after you’re no longer alive. But many Americans do not have a solid estate plan in place. Trust & Will says that 55% of Americans have no estate plan at all. Meanwhile, 31% have a will, and 11% have set up a trust.
It can be an emotional and difficult thing to think about estate planning. But if you’re currently in the process of putting an estate plan in place, you may be considering using a revocable living trust to pass an inheritance along to your heirs. Here are three ways that having one could help you and your loved ones.
1. You won’t have to go through probate
There’s a reason some people choose to write a will instead of a trust. It can be less expensive, and also, wills tend to be more well-known. But a revocable living trust has one big benefit over a will, and it’s that it could help your loved ones avoid having to go through probate.
Probate is not for the faint of heart. In California, it is a lengthy legal process that takes many months to years. A revocable living trust does not have to go through probate. That could save your loved ones time and stress.
Also, when wills go through probate, they become a matter of public record. This means that any person could look up the details of your will and see what assets your loved ones are inheriting.
If that sounds like a shocking invasion of privacy, it’s because it is. But unfortunately, that’s how the system works. You can avoid having that happen by using a revocable living trust to pass along an inheritance.
2. You can avoid depleting your estate’s cash reserves
Not only can the process of probate be time-consuming, but it can also be expensive. And the longer it drags out and the more complicated it becomes, the more money your estate might rack up in attorney fees.
The nice thing about a revocable living trust is that it can be a lot less expensive to administer. When a trust-base plan is properly drafted and funded, your loved ones will not have to go through a court process, saving them money.
A revocable living trust may be more expensive to put in place than a will. You’ll need to think about who should bear that burden — you while you’re still alive, or your loved ones after you pass. If you feel that you want to leave your loved ones the largest inheritance possible, then it could make sense to use a revocable living trust to pass along an inheritance to avoid the many costs that can come about during the process of probate.
3. You get flexibility
A revocable living trust, as the name implies, means you can change certain terms within the trust while you’re still alive. This means that you can place new assets into the trust, remove assets from the trust, and change beneficiaries within the trust based on personal circumstances.
For example, let’s say you have a beneficiary you include in your trust, but that person then effectively leaves your family after a divorce. You can simply update your revocable living trust to write that person out.
You can also include provisions in a revocable living trust that prevent certain heirs from accessing their money until a certain point. For example, if you have young grandchildren, you may not want them accessing money you leave them until they turn 21. You can write that provision into your revocable living trust.
Another thing you can do with a revocable living trust is change the trustee you’ve appointed to administer your trust after you’re gone. You may, for example, designate your oldest child to be the trustee. But if, after consideration, you decide that your youngest child is a better fit, you can make that change with ease.
Similarly, you may acquire certain assets in your lifetime after putting a revocable living trust in place. Let’s say you decide after years of saving money that you wish to purchase a beach house that will stay in the family. Even if your trust is set up, you can work with your estate planning attorney to update the trust to include that asset.
And if you decide to sell your primary home after putting it into the trust, you can simply remove it once the sale of that property is complete. Once you have the initial framework in place, the process can actually be quite simple.
At our firm, we understand that putting an estate plan in place is a complex and emotional process. And we’re here to guide you every step of the way. Contact our office today for an initial consultation or give us a call at (916) 437-3500 to discuss your estate planning needs.
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