What Happens to a Revocable Living Trust When One Spouse Dies? | Long Island Estate Planning (2024)

A revocable living trust can be very useful if you want to facilitate efficient asset transfers to your loved ones. When you use a revocable living trust, the asset distributions that are received by the beneficiaries after your passing are not subject to the probate process.

Probate is a legal process, and it provides certain protections to interested parties. However, it can be time-consuming and expensive, so people often take steps to avoid it.

Married Couples and Revocable Living Trusts

If you are married, you and your spouse could create a joint revocable living trust. This could be an efficient choice if you and your spouse own most of your valuable property together. It would also work well if each party wanted his or her spouse to inherit the entirety of the shared property after the death of one spouse.

Personally owned property could also be conveyed into the joint living trust. If you create a joint living trust and you place your own personal property into the trust, you could name beneficiaries other than your spouse if this was your choice.

Under typical circ*mstances, the surviving spouse would become the sole trustee after the death of one spouse. The surviving spouse would control the shared property, and the personal property of the deceased spouse would be distributed to the beneficiaries.

This is a common scenario, but there are other ways to create a shared living trust. It is technically possible to name a beneficiary other than your spouse to inherit your portion of shared property. You could also name a successor trustee to take over your position as co-trustee after your passing.

Individual Living Trusts

A married couple could have two separate living trusts. This could be a better choice if there was not a lot of shared property. If you were married and you had your own revocable living trust, the successor trustee that you named in the trust agreement would distribute your personally held assets to the beneficiaries in accordance with your wishes after you pass away.

Free Report on Revocable Living Trusts

We have prepared a special report that can provide you with a great deal of information about revocable living trusts. This report is being offered free of charge, and you can obtain access through this website.

To get your copy of the report, click this link and follow the simple instructions: Smithtown NY Living Trusts.

Schedule a Free Consultation

If you are interested in creating a revocable living trust, we can help. We offer free consultations, and we would be glad to answer all of your questions and provide the appropriate recommendations.

You can send us a message through this link to set up an appointment: Long Island NY Estate Planning.

To learn more, please download our free revocable living trust in New York here.