A revocable trust, also known as a revocable inter-vivos trust or a living trust, is a legal document that allows you to direct how you want your assets to be distributed when you die while allowing you to maintain control of those assets during your lifetime. When a revocable trust is combined with a comprehensive estate plan, some of the benefits it can provide are the care of disabled and handicapped children (special needs trust), the prevention of taxation of life insurance proceeds (irrevocable life insurance trust), the private administration of a deceased person’s estate after death, the nomination of a successor by the deceased person to manage estate assets in the event the deceased person becomes incapacitated, the benefit of directing how estate assets are to be distributed at death and to whom, the benefit of allowing married couples to take full advantage of their lifetime exemptions to reduce or eliminate Estate Taxes, the option to pass property with limitations established by the deceased person, the option to establish educational funds for children, the option to distribute property to children in trust for the benefit of grandchildren, for the purpose of avoiding the Estate and Gift Tax at the death of the children, to the extent authorized under the generation skipping transfer tax rules, and the benefit of avoiding probate. An estate planning attorney can help you plan and select the appropriate options tailored to your estate planning needs.