Definition

A revocable living trust holds your assets during your lifetime — you can change or revoke it freely — and transfers them to your beneficiaries at death without going through probate, keeping the process private and faster. It does not by itself reduce estate tax. Assets must be retitled into the trust for it to work.

1. Will

   A legal document directing how your assets are distributed after death.
2. Probate

   The court process of validating a will and distributing an estate after death.
3. Estate Tax

   A federal (and sometimes state) tax on very large estates passed at death.