In this 12‑minute conversational video, Mark Kohler and Matt walk viewers through the fundamentals of revocable living trusts and how they fit into an overall estate plan. They explain that a living trust lets a person avoid probate, keep asset distribution private, and maintain control of assets while alive. The discussion covers the trust document’s structure, the importance of funding the trust with real assets, and the flexibility to amend it. They detail the three key fiduciary roles—trustee, guardian (for minor children), and executor/personal representative—highlighting how to choose suitable individuals, especially in blended families. The hosts describe common trust provisions such as staggered or conditional distributions tied to age, education, or milestones, and the need for a business continuation plan. They also note complementary estate‑planning documents that a trust does not replace: living wills/advance healthcare directives and powers of attorney for medical and financial decisions. A critical limitation is emphasized: a revocable living trust offers no asset‑protection against lawsuits. Throughout, the tone is instructional and reassuring, with a promotional segment urging viewers to use their law firm’s services, noting nationwide coverage, affordable pricing, and the ability to update the plan later.
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As you go into this process, you're going to have a lot of your questions answered so that you can avoid getting misled by a lawyer that's trying to charge you too much. You need to get this estate plan done, get a living trust done. Let's help you with some of the basics so that you know what to ask and what to look for. So, Matt, let's volley back and forth here. What do you. What do you like about the trust?
Well, the first thing I like about it is you're not going to probate court. I should say your loved ones aren't. You're dead already. So you're definitely not going to probate court.
But you're long gone.
Your family's not going to probate court. All right, and what's that mean? And that means it's all private. And everything I put into my trust, it's not out in court. There's not a contest, period. I don't need a judge to put a rubber stamp on the thing to say, this is a valid will and the assets can get distributed. It's all happening under the terms of my trust document privately.
How probate came about was people that were dying with a will or nothing at all, and a judge had to verify what did they want or guess what they may have wanted to do with their estate. The trust bypasses that. The trust allows you in advance to say, here's my trustee, here's my stuff, here's where I want it to go. And as long as your trust is funded, we'll come to that. Then your family can just handle the matters. The probate is about the people that are a train wreck with their planning. A judge is going to say, oh, there's no trust. So do they even have a will? And what are we going to do with their stuff? Their kids, their money, their real estate? And that's what probate's about. And the trust allows us to bypass that. And the average probate in America is around 10 to $15,000 and takes over a year. Yeah.
And let me tell you what that trust document looks like, too. Just quickly here. I mean, this is a document you're going to sign. It's going to be notarized. Typically, we're doing these for clients across the country in all 50 states. There's a little differences state by state on the signing requirements. But it's going to say, hey, I'm married. I'm not. I've got kids. I don't if I got kids. Here's who's involved, Who's. Who's not getting anything. It's going to say, what's the percentage of. Of my estate that each person gets? It might say, hey, here's a specific asset that a specific person gets. I own a boat with my brother, but when I die, my brother gets the boat. Or I've got this musical instrument or the jewelry, and I want a specific person to get this. Okay? So there's all these things happening in the trust about your estates and this wealth you've spent so much time accumulating. Now we're going to get into some of the conditions and some of the restrictions we love to put in there to protect your family and to protect the wealth that you've built. But this is what the trust document is. It's not filed with the state. It's not in court anywhere. Okay. Once you sign this thing, we want to fund it, which Mark mentioned just a second ago. But this is the living document. It's alive and effective. Once you sign that baby, you don't have to go to court. You're not filing. You're getting approved by the state like an entity and why people like it.
The revocable living trust is while you're alive and starting right now, once you sign it, you are the trustee. If you're married, typically, it's going to be a joint revocable living trust. So your trustee, you're putting stuff in it, you're taking it out. There's a lot of privacy. You may name it the Blue Sky Trust or Green Tree Trust, so people don't see your name on public record where possible. So you're using this trust as you're alive and well, to build it, grow it. But when you die, you get to choose who the backup trustees are going to be. That's the first key person in a trust is this trustee. It could be two or three trustees. It may be your surviving spouse, and they're going to carry out the wishes of your trust without having to go to court and ask for permission. So it starts immediately. It's a living, breathing document. You're in control at all times, and you can amend it whenever you want. We amend other people's trusts they bring to us for a few hundred dollars. Sometimes. It depends on how much they want to talk about it and what those changes may be. But it is very amendable.
Yeah. And let's talk about who to choose as your trustee. This is one of those questions. When you're going in to get your estate plan done, you're Going to need to answer. And some people get stuck on this one.
Yeah, yeah.
Now, Mark talked, of course, during your lifetime, you're the trustee. If you have a spouse, your spouse is likely co trustee. And whoever passes first, the surviving one is still kind of trustee, running it. Once you're gone or if you're married, both of you are gone. Who is that trustee? I just want to give a couple ideas here. Some of the common things people do, maybe some things to think about.
Do they have to be good with kids?
Not necessarily.
They got to be good with money.
They got to be good with money. Okay. That's more what I care about. Okay. And can they follow direction and do they understand. Understand you and what you want? You know, and so some of you might have an older child that's, you know, they're Maybe in their 30s or so, more mature. You feel like they're responsible. And that might be someone that you list as your trustee in your trust. Okay. That's who's listed in mine. Now, at first I had Mark listed. Okay.
Yeah.
Okay. Mark was my trustee on my trust before, and then I cut him out.
By the way, this is a very emotional moment. Patty and I wanted you to be our trustee.
I would be honored.
Yeah. Because we're.
No fee either.
You're not. You're not going to charge. We have this on. You have this on tape? No. What's special about this and why that would occur is because we're a blended family. And so if you have that one child, the oldest one, that could handle this role, I'd like your example, but let's say you do have a blended family. Choosing one child from one of these two families could be problematic. So we want to choose someone that's good with money, that we trust. I don't know if we could trust you. Get the kids to school, you know, and feed them.
You didn't give me that job. Yeah. Thank goodness they're all adults, too.
No, but I think that's a great point you bring up is someone that you trust with finances, while someone else might be good with raising the children or handling your underwear and your sock drawer, emptying the house.
And now those are different jobs. So for those of you that have minor children, that's your guardian designation. You might be like, oh, my brother or my sister is great with kids. If I were to pass on, I'd want them to raise my kid, list them as the guardian. But they might be a disaster with finances. And so know that your trustee and guardian are not necessarily Going to be the same parties.
Yep. Now, that executor is that third party. So you have trustee, you have the guardian who's really kind of, again, taking the kids to school, making them lunch. Could be terrible with money, but they love your kids. And then you've got the executor or personal representative. They're going to be the one that handles the funeral and empties the house, sells some personal property, and they're going to kind of work for the trustee and help them get their job done. Those three parties are something that attorneys should be asking you for. And you can see this is a very tailored document to your situation and really hard to kind of find a boilerplate situation. You might be able to do that with a will, but not the trust.
Yeah. Let's talk about some of the common provisions we like to put in the trust that protects your family. All right? Now, one of the common issues that we have is, hey, I might have a child that could be an heir to my estate, but they're 19 years old. You know, if I just have a will or I have nothing, they're going to inherit whatever share of my estate is out there, you know. But if I have a trust, I can put conditions on it. Maybe they get money to go to college. Maybe they get money for a first home to start a business. You can add those provisions, those common questions we ask our clients. Do you want some of this stuff? And maybe they get a third when they're 25, another third when they're 30, and the final third when they're 35. So they kind of take care of the first little third and then maybe blow it. And the next third, they're a little more safe. And the final third, they actually do something with it. So those are the little common provisions we want you to think about and what the trust does that a will just can't do.
Yeah. And I want to bring up another angle, and that's the business continuation plan or some real estate investing you might have going on. You want to make sure your trust is funded, which means it actually owns the LLC membership, interest, or the stock or the real estate. The trust has to own it so your trustee can control it. You could sign a wonderful trust. It's beautiful, but if you don't put anything in it, it's worthless. You got to make sure it's funded. So for some of you that already have a trust, you want to make sure you're reviewing it every year, making sure everything's in it, that it should Be we have what's called a trifecta, a picture that kind of brings it all together. When you work with one of our lawyers, they're going to lay it out like a beautiful piece of art and say, this is how it all works and comes together. Because if you can see it, you can feel it and believe it and make it happen.
Yeah. Let's talk about something that a trust doesn't do, though, because you still need some other documents. For example, let's say you want to have the kind of pull the plug document. Okay. This is called a living will or an advanced healthcare directive. So if you're in a vegetative state determined by two physicians, do I get the plug pulled or am I staying on life support? So we want to address that question. It comes up more and more now. If you're going into surgery or something at a hospital, they ask for this now, like, hey, do you have a living will or advance directive? If you don't make it out of here alive, you know, what are we doing? Are you in a vegetative state? So don't leave that decision to your family member that has to make that decision for you. Decide ahead of time. That's part of the trust. The second thing that's part that we want to do outside of it and feel free to jump in here, but is the powers of attorney. So let's say you're in a, you know, you haven't passed away, but you're in a state where you can't make decisions for yourself. You might have a medical condition or be incapacitated. Can like my spouse or some other person, maybe it's the trustee, do the financial decision making for me.
Yeah, yeah. The trust can actually kick in earlier than death and take care of you when you get older. My mom had Alzheimer's and her trust, my brother and sister and I managed her affairs for a number of years inside the trust for her benefit, even before she passed away. Now, another thing the trust doesn't do, and this is a big shocker for a lot of people, it does not provide asset protection. That's not its purpose. I mean, we got all sorts of asset protection plans and ideas and we can set up entities and other types of trusts if necessary. But a revocable living trust is there for your legacy, your wealth, your estate. It is not to protect you from a lawsuit. And anybody that tries to sell you that and tell you otherwise, they're ripping you off and they're a bad advisor. A revocable living trust is about your estate and wealth and going in the right direction. Not a barrier or a bulletproof vest.
Yeah. Now you want to take action on this. As we said before, we want you to leave a legacy and not a disaster for your family that are going to be grieving for you after you pass on. Let's make it easy for them. Give them a layup, give them some wins here. Let's get a truck. Trust in a well crafted estate plan. And we want to help you. We have a law firm.
Yes. And every year we do a special and our pricing all year long is amazing compared to a lot of other estate planning firms starting around $3,000. We're helping families with all sorts of levels of complexity and estate and we have attorneys that help clients in all 50 states. You can get on a zoom call, really collaborate and design something that really fits your needs. So you shouldn't delay. Get it done. You can always change it later.
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