revocable living trustn.
Reviewed by Owen Hathaway, AttorneyUpdated June 1, 2026A trust created while you are alive that you can change or cancel at any time. It holds your assets so they can pass to the people you choose without probate, and lets a person you name step in to manage things if you become unable to.
A revocable living trust is a trust created during the settlor's lifetime that the settlor may amend or revoke at will. The settlor commonly serves as the initial trustee and beneficiary, keeping full control of the assets during life, and names a successor trustee to manage and distribute the trust property upon the settlor's incapacity or death.
Property titled in the trust passes under the trust's terms instead of through a will, which keeps those assets out of probate and off the public record. Because the settlor retains control, a revocable trust offers no asset-protection or estate-tax benefit during life; its value lies in probate avoidance, incapacity planning, and privacy. A revocable trust governs only the assets actually transferred into it, so funding the trust is what makes the plan work.
Colorado administers trusts under the Colorado Uniform Trust Code (C.R.S. Title 15, Article 5); Wyoming under the Wyoming Uniform Trust Code (Wyo. Stat. Title 4, Chapter 10). In both states, a revocable trust controls only the property retitled into it — see Trust Funding.
Related terms
- trust fundingThe step of actually moving assets into a trust, retitling accounts and deeds and lining up beneficiary designations in the trust's name. A trust controls only what it owns, so an unfunded trust accomplishes nothing no matter how well it is drafted.
- domestic asset protection trustA self-settled irrevocable trust allowed in certain states that can shield the person who created it from their own future creditors, something most states, including Colorado, don't permit.