A Revocable Living Trust is a living legal entity which is capable of holding title to assets. Trust Law has been part of our evolving common law and judicial system since the early 1300’s. The purpose for the creation of a trust has historically been to protect and administer various lands or assets in particular ways for certain purposes during the lifetime of the creator of the trust and after the creator’s lifetime.
Elements of a Trust: A legally binding trust has several distinct elements: a trustor, a trustee, a beneficiary, corpus or assets, the creators must have a legal intent or legal purpose for creating the trust, and they must have the capacity to create a trust.
A Living Trust is created when the testator is alive and will exist even after the testator has passed away. Once the testator has died the subsequent trustee(s) hold legal title and begin to administer the trust assets for the benefit of the beneficiaries of the trust according to the terms of the trust as they were drafted by the original testator. In most cases assets are to be distributed either immediately to the beneficiaries. Quite often, some assets, or the shares or inheritances for certain beneficiaries are to remain in the trust, even after the testator’s death, until the beneficiary reaches a certain age