What Is a Revocable Living Trust?
A revocable living trust is a legal arrangement. You, the grantor, move ownership of your assets into a trust. You control that trust during your life. You can change or cancel it at any time, as long as you are alive and able to make your own decisions. When you die, the trust becomes permanent. Your successor trustee hands out the assets the way you instructed.
The word living means you create the trust while you are alive. That’s different from a will, which only takes effect after you die. The word revocable means you keep the right to change your mind. Georgia law backs this up directly. Under O.C.G.A. § 53-12-40, a trust creator has no power to change or cancel a trust unless the trust says so in writing. A revocable trust is written to give you that power on purpose.
The trust, not you personally, owns the assets inside it. Because of that, those assets skip Georgia probate court when you die. Your successor trustee can hand them out right away. Or they can hold them for years, if your instructions say so. No judge gets involved either way.
The People Involved in a Revocable Living Trust
A revocable living trust has three roles. In most cases, one person, you, fills all three at once while you’re alive.
- Grantor: Also called a settlor or trustor, this is the person who creates the trust and moves assets into it. This is you. You set the rules for how the trust works and who gets the assets after you die.
- Trustee: The person who manages the trust’s assets. During your life, you are usually your own trustee. You keep paying bills, buying and selling property, and making decisions exactly like before.
- Beneficiary: The person who benefits from the trust’s assets. During your life, that’s you too. After you die, it’s the people you named.
You also name a successor trustee. That’s the person who steps in if you can no longer manage your own affairs, or when you die. It’s often a spouse, an adult child, or a bank’s trust department.
What the Trust Does While You’re Alive
While you are alive and able to make decisions, a revocable living trust works almost exactly like owning your assets outright. You keep full control. You can buy and sell property. You can change your beneficiaries. You can cancel the whole trust any time you want.
The biggest benefit during your life is planning for incapacity. Say you become unable to manage your finances. Your successor trustee can step in right away and manage the trust’s assets for you. No court case required.
Without a trust, it works differently. A family member who wants to manage your finances has to ask a Georgia probate court to appoint them as your conservator. That takes months, costs money, and puts your finances under ongoing court supervision. A funded trust skips that process for anything the trust owns.
What Happens If You Become Incapacitated
Planning for incapacity is often the most useful part of a revocable living trust for Georgia families. It’s often more useful than avoiding probate.
Say you become incapacitated, and your assets are only in your own name. A family member has to ask a Georgia probate court for guardianship of you and conservatorship of your property. Georgia law only allows this when a less restrictive option, like a power of attorney or a trust, isn’t already in place. The process can take months, cost thousands of dollars in legal fees, and put a judge in charge of your money until the case ends.
Say your assets are already in a revocable living trust instead. Your successor trustee can take over right away. No court petition needed. The trust document sets the standard for incapacity, usually a written note from one or two doctors, and gives your successor trustee full authority to act.
A financial power of attorney can do something similar for assets outside the trust. A trust is often more reliable. It doesn’t depend on a bank agreeing to accept the power of attorney document.
What Happens When You Die
When you die, your successor trustee gets to work. They gather the trust’s assets, pay any valid debts, and hand out what’s left to your beneficiaries, the way your trust document says. None of this goes through Georgia probate court. The whole process usually takes weeks to a few months. Compare that to a Georgia probate case, which now averages 13 months and $14,700 in fees for a simple estate.
Your trust can also tell the trustee to hold assets instead of handing them out right away. For example, the trustee can hold money for a minor child until they turn 30. Or they can manage money for a beneficiary with a disability, without cutting off that person’s government benefits.
Georgia probate records are public. Anyone can look up what you owned and who received it. A revocable living trust keeps that private, because it never goes through the court system.
What Assets Go Into the Trust
A revocable living trust only protects what you actually put into it. This step is called funding the trust. A trust you create but never fund does nothing for you.
Assets Georgia families commonly move into a revocable living trust:
- Real estate: Your home, a vacation house, rental property, or land. You record a new deed moving the property from your name to the trust’s name, in the county where it’s located. Georgia charges no real estate transfer tax on this kind of deed, under O.C.G.A. § 48-6-2(a)(9), since it’s a transfer to your own trustee with no payment involved.
- Bank accounts: Checking, savings, and money market accounts. You retitle the account in the trust’s name, or name the trust as the payable-on-death beneficiary.
- Investment accounts: Stocks, bonds, and mutual funds in a regular brokerage account.
- Business interests: LLC membership interests, or shares in a closely held company, depending on what your operating agreement or shareholder agreement allows.
- Personal property: Vehicles, boats, art, jewelry, and other valuable items.
A few assets need special handling instead:
- Retirement accounts: Don’t retitle a 401(k) or IRA into a trust. That triggers immediate income tax on the full balance. Name the trust as a contingent beneficiary instead.
- Life insurance: Talk to a tax advisor before you change the owner of a policy. You can usually name the trust as the beneficiary instead.
- Health savings accounts: These cannot go into a trust. Name a person as the beneficiary.
What a Revocable Living Trust Does Not Do
A revocable living trust is powerful, but it has real limits. Learn these before you decide it’s the right tool for your family.
A revocable living trust does not protect your assets from creditors. You can cancel the trust and take the assets back any time. Because of that, Georgia law treats trust assets as your own personal assets if you’re sued or file for bankruptcy.
It does not lower your federal estate taxes. Trust assets still count as part of your taxable estate when you die. The federal estate tax exemption is $15,000,000 per person in 2026, so this only matters for very large estates. If your estate is worth more than $15,000,000, an irrevocable trust is the right tool, not a revocable one.
It does not protect your assets from Medicaid spend-down. Say you need nursing home care and want Medicaid to help pay for it. Assets in a revocable living trust still count against you. Only an irrevocable Medicaid asset protection trust, funded at least five years before you apply, can protect assets from that.
It does not remove your need for a will. You still need a short pour-over will that catches anything you forgot to move into the trust and sends it there after you die. That pour-over will still goes through probate, but usually for a much smaller amount than your full estate.
Revocable Living Trust vs. Will
A trust and a will both move your assets to your family when you die, but they work differently. Most Georgia families who set up a revocable living trust still sign a will too. The two documents work together, not against each other.
| Factor |
Revocable Living Trust |
Will |
| Goes through probate |
No |
Yes |
| Becomes public record |
No |
Yes |
| Helps if you become incapacitated |
Yes, your trustee steps in right away |
No, requires a court case |
| Can hold money for a minor or a beneficiary with a disability |
Yes |
Only with court supervision |
| Out-of-state property |
Avoids a second probate case in that state |
Requires a second probate case in that state |
| Cost to set up |
Higher |
Lower |
| Names a guardian for minor children |
No |
Yes |
| Takes effect |
As soon as it’s signed and funded |
Only after you die |
For a full side-by-side breakdown, including cost differences and which one fits your family, see our complete guide to revocable trust vs. will in Georgia.
How Much Does a Revocable Living Trust Cost in Georgia?
The cost depends on your estate’s complexity and the attorney you hire. A full trust package usually includes the trust itself, a pour-over will, a financial power of attorney, and a healthcare directive. With a Georgia estate planning attorney, that typically runs a few thousand dollars.
At The Hive Law, the Complete Family Trust Package is a flat fee of $3,500. That price includes the revocable trust, a certificate of trust, a pour-over will, a financial power of attorney, and an advance healthcare directive. See our full pricing breakdown or learn more about our revocable trust service.
Funding the trust costs extra, and it’s easy to overlook. Moving real estate into the trust means recording a new deed, which comes with a small county recording fee that varies by where the property is located. Moving bank and investment accounts means contacting each institution directly.
An unfunded trust protects nothing. Make sure whoever drafts your trust also handles the funding, or gives you clear, written instructions for every asset you own.
Your first call is free, about 15 minutes, and happens by phone with Shawn. If you move forward, your next step is the Design Meeting with Shawn and Melissa, which is credited toward your plan.
How to Set Up a Revocable Living Trust in Georgia
Setting up a revocable living trust in Georgia takes six steps.
1
List Your Assets
Write down everything you own: real estate, bank accounts, investment accounts, retirement accounts, life insurance, and anything else of real value. Note how each one is titled today.
2
Decide Who Gets What
Choose your beneficiaries and your successor trustee. Decide on any conditions for how they inherit, like an age requirement for a minor child.
3
Work With a Georgia Estate Planning Attorney
A trust needs to fit your specific family and assets. Avoid a generic online form, especially if the trust will hold real estate.
4
Sign the Trust in Front of a Notary
Georgia treats a trust with the same formality as a deed. Keep the signed original somewhere safe, and give your successor trustee a copy.
5
Fund the Trust
Move your assets into the trust’s name. This is the step people skip, and it’s the step that makes the trust actually work.
6
Review It as Your Life Changes
Update the trust when you buy new property, when your family changes, or when Georgia or federal law changes.
