A Beginner's Guide: Estate Planning through Revocable Trusts

Beginning of article

In recent years revocable trusts have become a popular and quite common estate planning tool.

Many people, both young and old, utilize revocable trusts to pass assets to their spouse and the next generation free from probate, to plan for incapacity and in some cases to minimize estate tax liability.

A trust is an agreement, usually in writing, between two parties. The first party is the settlor, or the person who sets up the trust, and the second party is the trustee, or the person who manages the trust and holds legal title to the assets.

In most revocable trusts, the settlor and the trustee are the same person. The beneficiary of the trust is typically …