Revocable Living Trusts
A revocable living trust does two things a will can't: it keeps your estate out of probate, and it puts someone you choose in charge if you can't manage your own affairs. We draft the trust, and just as important, we make sure it's actually funded, because an empty trust accomplishes nothing.
Talk to an attorneyFounded
1965
Attorneys
11
AV-rated
Martindale-Hubbell
Office
Bellevue, WA
Founded
1965
Attorneys
3
AV-rated
Martindale-Hubbell
Office
Bellevue, WA
Revocable living trust attorneys for Bellevue and Seattle families
Oseran Hahn designs and drafts revocable living trusts for Pacific Northwest families who want to avoid probate, plan for incapacity, and keep their affairs private. We build the trust around how you actually hold your assets, fund it so it controls what it's supposed to, and pair it with the pour-over will and powers of attorney that complete the plan. A living trust is only as good as the work that goes into funding and maintaining it, so we treat that as part of the job, not an afterthought.
A revocable living trust is a container you fill during life and that pays out after, and the value is in the details of how it's built and funded. We draft the trust and define how it works while you're alive and after you're gone. We fund it, re-titling the assets that make it real. We use it to manage your affairs if you become incapacitated. We structure it to avoid probate and keep your estate private. And we coordinate the tax and community property treatment so the trust helps rather than complicates.
What a revocable living trust does
A revocable living trust is an arrangement you create during your lifetime to hold your assets, with you usually serving as both the trustee who manages it and the beneficiary who enjoys it. Because it's revocable, you can amend or revoke it at any time while you have capacity, and Washington applies the same capacity standard to creating or revoking a trust as it does to making a will (RCW 11.103). While you're alive, the trust is effectively invisible: you keep using your assets as before. At your death, the trust becomes irrevocable and your named successor trustee distributes the assets according to its terms, without the court involvement a will requires. We draft the trust and the dispositive terms so it does exactly what you intend at each of those stages.
Funding the trust
A trust controls only the assets that are actually titled in it, and the step almost everyone underestimates is funding. We re-title your bank and brokerage accounts into the trust, prepare and record the deeds that transfer your real estate to the trustee, and review your beneficiary designations so they line up with the plan. Transferring your home into a revocable trust doesn't trigger the lender's due-on-sale clause, because the federal Garn-St. Germain Act (12 U.S.C. § 1701j-3) exempts that transfer. We also prepare a pour-over will (RCW 11.12.250) that catches anything left out of the trust at death and directs it in, though assets that pour over still pass through probate, which is why we fund the trust properly in the first place.
Planning for incapacity
The living trust earns its keep long before death, when an illness or injury leaves you unable to manage your own affairs. Because your successor or co-trustee can step in and manage the trust's assets the moment you can't, without a court, your finances keep running without the delay, expense, and publicity of a guardianship. We define what incapacity means in your trust, name the successor trustees in the order you want them to serve, set the proof required for a successor to take over, and rely on the trustee powers Washington's trust act provides (RCW 11.98), so the transition is clean and no institution second-guesses your trustee's authority.
Avoiding probate and keeping the estate private
Assets held in your revocable trust pass to your beneficiaries at death without probate, which is the reason most people create one. That saves the time and cost of a court-supervised administration, and it keeps your estate private, because a will admitted to probate is a public record and a trust is not. The benefit is largest if you own real estate in more than one state, since a funded trust avoids a separate ancillary probate in each one. We coordinate the trust with your nonprobate assets (RCW 11.11), such as retirement accounts and life insurance, so the whole plan passes the way you intend rather than in pieces.
Tax and community property treatment
A revocable living trust does not save income or estate tax by itself, and we're direct about that. While you're alive it's a grantor trust, tax-neutral and reported on your own return (IRC § 676), with no separate tax identification number required. Its tax value comes later: for a married couple, a properly structured community property trust preserves the community property character of your assets and the full step-up in basis at the first death under IRC § 1014, and the trust becomes the platform for any marital or credit-shelter planning that makes sense when the estate is large enough to face estate tax. We build the trust so those options are available without forcing them where they aren't needed.
Sixty years of Pacific Northwest estate work, and the probate and trust-administration practice that settles these trusts when the time comes, means we draft and fund living trusts knowing exactly how they're used and where they fail.
An unfunded trust is the most common mistake.
Plenty of people pay for a trust and never move their assets into it, so it controls nothing and the estate goes through probate anyway. We handle the funding, the deeds, and the re-titling, so the trust you paid for actually works.
We administer what we draft.
We're the lawyers who settle trusts after a death, not just the ones who write them. Drafting with that experience means we write trusts that a successor trustee and a bank will accept without a fight.
We won't sell you a trust you don't need.
A living trust is the right tool for many families and overkill for some. We tell you plainly whether a trust or a simpler will-based plan fits your assets and goals, rather than defaulting to the more expensive document.
The attorneys behindthe work.
Our business and corporate attorneys handle this work alongside our litigation team, so you have coverage whether your matter stays transactional or becomes something more.
What clientsask us first.
What's the difference between a revocable living trust and a will?
Both direct who gets your property, but a will only takes effect at death and goes through probate, the public, court-supervised process of settling an estate. A revocable living trust avoids probate for the assets it holds, manages those assets if you become incapacitated, and keeps your estate private. A trust costs more to set up and requires funding to work; a will is simpler but offers none of those benefits.
Does a living trust save taxes?
Not by itself, and anyone who tells you otherwise is overselling it. While you're alive, a revocable trust is tax-neutral and reported on your own return. Its real benefits are avoiding probate, planning for incapacity, and privacy. There are tax advantages a trust can capture at death, like preserving the community property step-up in basis or housing estate-tax planning, but those come from how the trust is structured, not from the trust itself.
Do I still need a will if I have a living trust?
Yes. We pair every living trust with a pour-over will that catches any asset you didn't get into the trust and directs it there, and that names a guardian for minor children, which a trust can't do. The pour-over will is the backstop, not the main event; the goal is to fund the trust well enough that the will rarely has to do much.
What does it mean to fund the trust, and why does it matter so much?
Funding means actually transferring your assets into the trust's name, re-titling accounts and deeding real estate to the trustee. It matters because the trust only controls what's titled in it. An unfunded trust is just paper: the assets you left outside it still go through probate, and the document you paid for accomplishes nothing. We do the funding work rather than hand you a binder and wish you luck.
Who manages my assets if I become incapacitated?
Your successor trustee, immediately and without a court. That's one of the main reasons to use a revocable trust: if you can't manage the trust's assets, the person you named steps in and keeps your finances running, avoiding the guardianship a court would otherwise impose. We define incapacity in the trust and set the proof a successor needs, so the handoff is smooth and banks honor it.
When does a revocable living trust make sense for me?
It's worth strong consideration if you own real estate, especially in more than one state, value privacy, want a clean plan for incapacity, or have an estate complex enough that avoiding probate is worth the setup. For a younger person with simple assets, a will-based plan may be enough. We'll tell you which side of that line you're on rather than sell you the trust by default.
Recentarticles.
We'll tell you whether a living trust is right for you, and if it is, we'll draft it and fund it.
Oseran Hahn P.S. · 11225 SE 6th St, Suite 100 · Bellevue, WA 98004
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