Revocable Living Trusts
A revocable living trust lets you keep full control of your assets during your lifetime while giving your family a private, faster path around probate when you pass. It is not the right tool for everyone — but when it is right, it solves problems a will alone cannot.
What a revocable living trust actually does
You create the trust while you are alive, transfer selected assets into it, and name yourself as trustee. While you are alive and competent, nothing about your day-to-day changes — you still buy, sell, spend, and invest as you would with your own name on the title. The trust is just the owner of record.
When you pass, the successor trustee you named steps in, distributes the trust's assets according to its terms, and the trust closes. No probate is required for trust property. That saves time (months instead of the four-to-eight month probate minimum), keeps the distribution private (probate is a public court proceeding; trusts are not), and lets you include contingent provisions — ongoing trusts for minor children, special-needs protection, staged distributions — that a simple will cannot replicate as cleanly.
When a trust is worth the cost
Families that own real estate in more than one state. Probate has to run in every state where you own real property; a trust consolidates the process into one administration.
Blended families where the distribution is not a simple "everything to my spouse, then to my children." Trusts can hold assets for the surviving spouse's lifetime and then pass to the first spouse's children — a pattern Wisconsin wills struggle to execute cleanly.
Beneficiaries with special needs or addiction issues. A trust can distribute funds on a schedule or subject to a trustee's discretion, protecting the beneficiary without disqualifying them from means-tested benefits.
Privacy-sensitive families. Probate inventories and final accounts are public record in Wisconsin. A trust administration is not.
Funding the trust — where most families go wrong
A trust only controls assets that are titled to it. Signing the document is step one; retitling your real estate, brokerage accounts, and business interests into the trust is step two. If step two never happens, your beneficiaries end up in probate anyway and the trust sits empty.
Rebecca walks clients through funding at the signing appointment — which assets should be transferred, which should keep their beneficiary designations, and which should be left in individual name with a "pour-over will" that catches them at death. She prepares the deeds for Wisconsin real estate and sends written instructions for retitling accounts, then checks in several months later to confirm the funding is complete.
Wisconsin's Trust Code
Wisconsin adopted the Uniform Trust Code as Chapter 701 of the Wisconsin Statutes. It spells out the duties of the trustee, the rights of beneficiaries, the procedures for modifying or terminating a trust, and the standards courts use if a trust is contested. Rebecca drafts trusts to work cleanly within that framework — so if a dispute ever arises, the rules the court will apply are already baked into the document.
Frequently asked
Common questions about revocable living trust
- Does a revocable living trust save me taxes?
- Not by itself. A revocable trust is tax-neutral — the IRS treats the assets as still belonging to you during your lifetime. Estate tax savings come from separate strategies (irrevocable trusts, lifetime gifting, charitable vehicles) that can layer on top of a revocable trust. Most Wisconsin families are well below the current federal estate tax threshold; trusts solve probate, privacy, and control issues, not tax issues.
- Can I change or revoke my trust after I sign it?
- Yes — that is the "revocable" part. You can amend the trust, add or remove assets, change beneficiaries, or revoke the entire document at any time while you have capacity. When you pass or become incapacitated, the trust becomes irrevocable and the successor trustee takes over under its terms.
- Do I still need a will if I have a trust?
- Yes. Rebecca always pairs a revocable trust with a "pour-over will" that catches any asset not successfully retitled to the trust during your lifetime. The pour-over will directs those stray assets into the trust at death. A trust also does not nominate a guardian for minor children — that has to live in the will.
- How expensive is a trust compared to a will?
- A Wisconsin revocable-trust package (trust + pour-over will + powers of attorney + funding work) costs more upfront than a simple will package. Most families who choose a trust do so because the savings on the back end — probate avoidance, privacy, ongoing trust provisions for children — outweigh the upfront drafting cost. Rebecca will tell you directly when a trust is the right tool and when it is not.
- Who should I name as successor trustee?
- Someone who is organized, trustworthy with money, and able to work with professionals (attorneys, CPAs, investment advisors). Many families name the same person who serves as personal representative under the will. Some name a corporate trustee — a bank or trust company — especially when beneficiaries are minor or when the family dynamics make a neutral professional a better choice than a sibling or in-law.
Talk with Rebecca
Tell Rebecca a little about your situation. She will be in touch — usually within one business day.