Since you maintain the right of revocation and you will be acting as the trustee, you are retaining incidents of ownership in a legal sense. You have direct access to the resources, so a litigant seeking redress would also have access.In addition to lawsuits and tax liens, this applies to some other matters. If you are exposed to the federal or New York estate tax, the assets in the revocable living trust would count.Many people seek Medicaid eligibility late in their lives because Medicaid will pay for long-term care. Medicare does not pay for the custodial care that nursing homes and in-home caregivers provide.You cannot qualify for Medicaid if you have significant assets in your name. Once again, assets in a living trust would count, so this type of trust would not be useful for Medicaid planning purposes.There are irrevocable trusts that are used to provide estate tax efficiency, and you can use an irrevocable trust to get assets out of your name to qualify for Medicaid.