Las Vegas Living Trusts Lawyer

How Does a Revocable Living Trust Work?

You create the trust, usually serve as your own trustee, and retain the right to change/amend or terminate it at any time. You keep using your home and accounts the way you do today. The trust names a successor trustee who steps in if you become unable to manage your affairs or when you die.

That structure does three practical things:

• Avoids probate for trust property. After your death, your successor trustee distributes trust assets under the trust's terms without opening a probate court case.
• Plans for incapacity. If you can't manage your finances, your successor trustee can manage trust property without a court-appointed guardian for those assets.
• Keeps the details private. A probate case is a public court file. A trust is generally administered without filing the trust document with the court.

A revocable living trust does not shield assets from your own creditors, because you can take the property back at any time. It also doesn't lower federal estate tax on its own, although it can be structured in a manner to reduce/eliminate federal estate taxes. If creditor protection is the goal, Nevada's spendthrift trust statutes are a separate tool; see our asset protection page.

Who Should Consider a Revocable Living Trust in Las Vegas

• Homeowners. Nevada's simplest procedure, a small estate affidavit, isn't available if you own any Nevada real estate in your own name, and the court shortcuts stop at $150,000 for a set aside and $500,000 for summary administration. A Las Vegas home in your own name can push your estate into court-supervised probate. A funded trust keeps the home out of that count.
• Parents of minor children. A trust can hold a child's inheritance and release it at ages you choose, managed by a trustee you pick, instead of handing a large sum to a young adult. Your pour-over will nominate a guardian for the children themselves.
• Blended families and second marriages. Nevada is a community property state, so property acquired during marriage is generally community property (NRS 123.220). A trust can spell out what goes to your spouse, what goes to children from an earlier relationship, and when.
• People who own property in more than one state. Real estate titled in your own name in another state can require a separate probate there. Deeding that property to your trust can avoid a second case.
• Business owners. A trust can hold your ownership interest so a successor trustee can act quickly.

What’s in a Typical Revocable Living Trust Plan?

1. Revocable living trust agreement: names your trustees and beneficiaries and sets the rules for distribution.
2. Pour-over will: directs anything left outside the trust into it, and nominates guardians for minor children.
3. Financial power of attorney: lets your agent handle financial items separate from the trust, such as retirement accounts and tax matters, under NRS Chapter 162A.
4. Healthcare power of attorney, advance directive, and HIPAA authorization: name who makes medical decisions for you and record your wishes.
5. Certificate of trust: a short document that proves the trust exists and who the trustee is, so banks and title companies don't need your full trust (NRS 164.400 to 164.440).
6. Deed transferring your home to the trust: recorded with the Clark County Recorder. A transfer to your own trust without payment is exempt from Nevada's real property transfer tax when a certificate of trust is presented (NRS 375.090(7)).

Trust Funding: A Common Failure Point

A trust controls only the property titled in its name. If the trust is empty at your death, the pour-over will may have to go through probate to move property into it.

Funding usually means:

• Real estate: recording a new deed from you to yourself as trustee, for your Las Vegas home and any rental or out-of-state property
• Bank and brokerage accounts: retitling them in the trust's name, or adding the trust as payable-on-death or transfer-on-death beneficiary where that's the better fit
• Retirement accounts and life insurance: usually left in your name, with beneficiary designations coordinated with the trust (check tax effects before changing them)
• Business interests: assigning LLC or corporate interests to the trust, consistent with the company's operating agreement
• New assets: titling new accounts and property in the trust as you acquire them

We walk you through what needs to move into the trust and how to move it.

What Affects the Cost of a Living Trust?

The main cost drivers are:

• A single trust for one person versus a joint trust for a married couple
• How many properties need deeds, especially property outside Nevada
• Blended family provisions or separate-property tracking
• Trusts for children that last past age 18, or a special needs trust for a beneficiary receiving public benefits
• Business interests that need assignments or succession terms
• Starting fresh versus restating an older trust
• The complexity of your desires relating to the trust structure

How Long Does It Take To Make a Living Trust?

The process usually runs in this order: an initial meeting, a questionnaire and document gathering, preparation of initial draft documents, review of draft documents, a signing meeting with a notary and witnesses, then trust funding. 

Updating Your Trust After Marriage, Divorce, or Other Changes

• Marriage. A new spouse isn't added to your trust automatically. For wills, Nevada law revokes a will made before marriage as to a surviving spouse unless the spouse is provided for or another exception applies (NRS 133.110). Update your trust and pour-over will after the wedding, and coordinate with any prenuptial agreement.
• Divorce. When a Nevada divorce is final, gifts to your former spouse in a revocable trust and your ex's nomination as trustee are revoked by statute unless the trust, a court order, or your property settlement agreement says otherwise (NRS 111.781). That fixes the worst problem, but it doesn't name anyone new or retitle property you were awarded.
• Other reasons to review: a birth or adoption, a trustee or beneficiary who dies or becomes unable to serve, buying or selling real estate, starting or selling a business, or moving to or from Nevada. You can make small changes by amendment; larger ones are often cleaner as a full restatement.

To talk about a living trust, call (702) 996-6052 or request a consultation online. Our office is at 6900 Westcliff Drive, Suite 802, Las Vegas, NV 89145.

Frequently Asked Questions