Q: How would creating a lifetime revocable trust allow me to avoid probate?
A: No probate is required for trust-owned/trust-titled assets. The trustee is responsible for distributing those assets in accordance with the terms of the trust, without separate court permission, without separate waivers or consents from any third parties, and without additional separate authority needing to be granted to the trustee. But the main point is, the mere creation of such a trust accomplishes nothing by itself. Once the trust is created, all the individuals’s assets must be transferred into the trust or otherwise retitled in the trust. An unfunded trust is not worth the paper it is printed on.
A: If all of your property is in the trust, then the trust controls disposition and you do not need a court order.
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