"Private Trust" is a general consumer phrase rather than a single distinct legal classification under statutory law. Consumers often use it to mean keeping assets private from public court probate (e.g., a Revocable Living Trust), shielding ownership from public deed databases (a Land Trust), or insulating wealth from judgment creditors (a Domestic Asset Protection Trust). MyPrivateTrust.com translates your real-world goals into the formal statutory trust instruments recognized in your state.
Trust Classifications
Revocable Living Trust (RLT)
The foundational estate-planning instrument for probate avoidance and incapacity management.
Overview & Purpose
A revocable living trust is created during your lifetime, allowing you to maintain full control over your assets as trustee while designating successor trustees to manage or distribute assets upon incapacity or death without probate court involvement.
- Allows you to retain 100% control, amend, alter, or completely revoke the trust at any time.
- Transfers properly titled assets directly to designated beneficiaries upon death without probate delay.
- Designates a trusted successor trustee to manage accounts if you suffer cognitive decline or incapacity.
- Maintains privacy because unlike a will, a trust is generally not filed in the public court record.
- Does NOT protect assets from your own lawsuits, tort claimants, or personal debts during your lifetime.
- Does NOT save federal estate taxes by itself (assets remain in your gross taxable estate).
- Does NOT avoid probate for assets you forget or fail to retitle or assign into the trust name.
- Does NOT qualify you for Medicaid or shield your home from Medicaid estate recovery.
Relevant Assets for this Structure
Uniform Trust Code (UTC) states have standard revocation and trustee reporting rules. In California, Florida, and New York, high statutory probate fees make RLTs especially impactful.
Questions to Discuss with an Estate Attorney
- Are there state transfer taxes or documentary stamp taxes on deeding my residence to my trust?
- How does my state homestead property tax exemption interact with placing my home in a trust?
- Who is the most neutral and capable choice for alternate successor trustee?