The A-B-C's of Oregon Revocable Trust Law

By: Robert Harris, Oregon Estate Planning Attorney

When deciding on an estate plan in Oregon, many clients ask about a revocable living trust as an option. There are a lot of factors to consider when deciding on whether a living trust is right for you. It's very fact specific decision. 

What is a revocable living trust?

It’s a written document that manages your property during your lifetime and distributes your property after your death. The document appoints a "trustee" (Usually yourself) to administer the trust property, and sets out detailed instructions on how the trust property is to be managed during your life and how it is to be managed or distributed after your death. 

If you want your trust to substitute for a probate proceeding, which is one of the main reasons for establishing the trust, you must include trustee detailed instructions about handling distributions just like in a will. And you should make sure to transfer substantially all of your property to the trustee, otherwise you may end up both paying for the trust and a probate.