Revocable Living Trust Plan

What Is a Revocable Living Trust?

A revocable living trust is a legal document that holds your assets — things like your home, bank accounts, and investments — in a trust while you're still alive. You remain in full control of everything as the settlor and initial trustee. You can add assets, remove them, or change the terms whenever you want. That's the "revocable" part.

The real magic happens after you pass away. Because your assets are held in the trust rather than in your personal name, they don't have to go through probate. Probate is Missouri's court-supervised process for settling estates, and it can take a year or more. That means your family could be waiting — and paying legal fees — just to receive what you intended to leave them.

What's Included in a Revocable Living Trust Plan?

A comprehensive trust plan from The Taormina Firm is more than just the trust document itself. It typically includes a pour-over will as a safety net, a durable financial power of attorney, a health care power of attorney, a health care directive, a certification of trust, and a bill of sale for transferring tangible personal property into the trust. Together, these documents create a complete plan that covers your finances, your health care, and the distribution of your trust assets after death.

Why Do You Need a Revocable Living Trust Plan?

If you own a home, have retirement accounts, or simply want to make sure your family is taken care of without the hassle of court involvement, a revocable living trust is worth considering. It gives you peace of mind that your plan is already in place and your loved ones won't have to navigate the legal system during one of the hardest times of their lives.

A trust also offers privacy. Unlike a will, which becomes a public record once it goes through probate, a trust keeps your affairs private. Nobody needs to know what you owned or who you left it to. And because you name a successor trustee in the document, the transition of management is seamless — no court involvement required.

It's also worth noting the role of trust funding. A trust only works if your assets are actually transferred into it. That means retitling your home, updating beneficiary designations, and working with your financial institutions to make the trust the owner of your accounts. The Taormina Firm walks you through this process step by step.

How The Taormina Firm Can Help

At The Taormina Firm, Vince works directly with every client to build a trust plan that actually fits your life. This isn't a cookie-cutter document pulled off the internet — it's a comprehensive plan that accounts for your assets, your family situation, and your goals. Whether you're a young professional just starting to build wealth or you're approaching retirement, a revocable living trust plan can be the foundation of your estate plan.

We also offer virtual estate planning for clients with less than $1 million in gross assets, so you can get a professional, attorney-drafted plan without ever leaving your home.