Trusts in 60 seconds
New to all this? Most people are. Here’s the short version.
What is a trust?
Think of a trust as a locked box with a set of instructions. You put things you own inside — like your house or savings. You pick someone to look after the box, and you decide who gets what’s inside, and when.
Why do people get one?
To keep what they’ve worked for safe, to make things easy for their family when they die, and to have someone ready to step in if they get sick and can’t handle their own money.
What are the two main kinds?
An irrevocable trust is the “protect it” kind: hard to change, but it can keep your things safe from lawsuits and some costs. A revocable trust is the “stay flexible” kind: you can change it anytime, but it doesn’t protect much.
Start here
Pick a topic. Every guide is written in everyday language — no law degree needed.
Start here
What is a trust?
The basics: what a trust is, who’s involved, and the two main kinds — explained simply.
Protect your stuff
Keeping your things safe
Worried about lawsuits, debts or nursing home costs taking what you’ve built? An irrevocable trust can help. The catch: once it’s set up, it’s hard to change.
Stay flexible
A trust you can change
You stay in charge of everything and can change your mind anytime. Its main job is helping your family skip probate — a slow, public court process after someone dies.
After you sign
Putting things into your trust
A trust only covers what’s inside it. Here’s how people move their house, bank accounts and other things into a trust.
Taxes
Tax ID numbers for trusts
Some trusts need their own tax number from the IRS — like a Social Security number for the trust. Getting one from the IRS is free.
Our service
How Trust With Us works
What happens step by step, what you can do today, and when it’s smart to talk to a lawyer or tax pro.
Look it up
Trust words, made simple
A plain-English dictionary of the words you’ll see — trustee, beneficiary, probate, funding and more.
Look it up
Every kind of trust, explained
A list of the many types of trusts and the extra rules you can add — each in a few sentences.
Trust words, made simple
The terms you’ll see most, in plain English.
- Trust
- A “box” that holds your things, plus rules for who gets them and when.
- Grantor
- The person who creates the trust — usually you. Also called a settlor or trustor.
- Trustee
- The person in charge of the trust. They follow your instructions. With a revocable trust, this is often you.
- Successor trustee
- The backup who takes over if the trustee dies or can’t do the job anymore.
- Beneficiary
- The person (or charity) who gets something from the trust.
- Irrevocable
- Can’t easily be changed once it’s made. That’s what lets it protect your things.
- Revocable
- You can change it or cancel it whenever you want.
- Funding
- Moving your things — like your house or bank accounts — into the trust. Without this step, the trust is empty.
- Probate
- The court process that sorts out someone’s things after they die. It can take months, cost money, and is public.
- Estate
- Everything you own. Your home, car, money and stuff.
- Will
- A document that says who gets your things after you die. It usually has to go through probate.
- Creditor
- Someone you owe money to, or someone who wins a lawsuit against you.
- Spendthrift clause
- A rule that guards a person’s share of the trust. People they owe money to can’t take it. And they can’t sell or promise it away before they get it.
- Notary
- An official who watches you sign and confirms it’s really you.
Trust types library
49 trust types and provisions, explained in plain English. Irrevocable trusts are listed first, grouped by what they are mainly used for.
Irrevocable: asset protection
Trusts used mainly to shield assets from future creditors and claims.
- Irrevocable
Domestic asset protection trust
A self-settled trust that can help protect assets from future creditors while you remain a beneficiary. Only certain states allow them, such as Nevada, South Dakota, Delaware and Alaska.
- Irrevocable
Hybrid domestic asset protection trust
A trust created for others in which a trust protector can later add you as a beneficiary — an alternative to a self-settled trust.
- Irrevocable
Offshore asset protection trust
Formed under another country’s law, such as the Cook Islands or Nevis. Often considered the strongest creditor protection, with higher cost, complexity and IRS reporting requirements.
- Irrevocable
Medicaid asset protection trust
Used in long-term care planning to preserve savings and a home for family. Subject to strict eligibility rules, including Medicaid’s five-year look-back period.
- Irrevocable
Spendthrift trust (for others)
A trust for your beneficiaries with strong spendthrift protection. Some states, such as Nevada, South Dakota and Wyoming, have especially protective trust laws.
Irrevocable: tax and estate planning
Trusts used to reduce estate, gift or income taxes and pass wealth on.
- Irrevocable
Irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT)
Owns a life insurance policy, often so the payout is kept out of the insured person’s taxable estate.
- Irrevocable
Spousal lifetime access trust (SLAT)
One spouse gifts assets to a trust for the other spouse, moving them out of the taxable estate while the household can still benefit indirectly.
- Irrevocable
Intentionally defective grantor trust (IDGT)
Removed from your estate for estate tax purposes while you keep paying its income tax, letting the trust grow faster for beneficiaries.
- Irrevocable
Grantor retained annuity trust (GRAT)
Pays you a fixed amount for a set term, then passes remaining growth to beneficiaries. Used in gift and estate tax planning.
- Irrevocable
Grantor retained unitrust (GRUT)
Like a GRAT, but pays you a fixed percentage of the trust’s value each year instead of a fixed amount.
- Irrevocable
Qualified personal residence trust (QPRT)
Transfers your home to beneficiaries while you keep living in it for a set number of years.
- Irrevocable
Gifting trust (Crummey trust)
Receives yearly gifts for beneficiaries, typically structured to use the annual gift tax exclusion.
- Irrevocable
Dynasty / generation-skipping trust
A long-term trust for children, grandchildren and later generations, with specialized tax rules.
- Irrevocable
Bypass (credit shelter) trust
Used by married couples in estate tax planning, typically created when the first spouse dies.
- Irrevocable
QTIP trust
Provides income to a surviving spouse while controlling who ultimately receives the assets, often in blended families.
- Irrevocable
Qualified domestic trust (QDOT)
Allows the estate tax marital deduction for assets left to a spouse who is not a U.S. citizen.
- Irrevocable
Incomplete non-grantor trust (DING, NING, WING)
Used to reduce state income tax on certain assets, under the laws of states such as Delaware, Nevada and Wyoming. Highly technical.
- Irrevocable
Charitable remainder trust (CRAT / CRUT)
Pays income to you or others for life or a term, then the remainder goes to charity. An annuity trust (CRAT) pays a fixed amount; a unitrust (CRUT) pays a fixed percentage.
- Irrevocable
Charitable lead trust
Pays a charity first for a set term, then the remainder goes to your family or other beneficiaries.
- Irrevocable
Wealth replacement trust
A life insurance trust used alongside a charitable trust to replace, for your heirs, the value given to charity.
Irrevocable: family and benefits
Trusts built around a particular person, need or event.
- Irrevocable
Special needs trust (third-party)
Provides for a person with a disability using other people’s money, designed with public-benefit rules such as SSI and Medicaid in mind.
- Irrevocable
First-party special needs trust
Holds the disabled person’s own assets, such as a settlement or inheritance. Medicaid generally must be repaid from what remains at death.
- Irrevocable
Pooled special needs trust
Run by a nonprofit that pools investments while keeping a separate account for each beneficiary with a disability.
- Irrevocable
Minor’s trust (Section 2503(c))
Holds gifts for a child that qualify for the annual gift tax exclusion; the child generally must be able to receive the assets at 21.
- Irrevocable
Education trust
Sets money aside for a beneficiary’s education costs, with distribution rules you choose.
- Irrevocable
Settlement trust
Receives and manages proceeds from a lawsuit or injury settlement, sometimes structured to protect public benefits.
- Irrevocable
Testamentary trust
Created by a will and takes effect after death — often used for minor children.
- Irrevocable
Pet trust
Sets aside money and names a caretaker for your pets. Recognized in most states.
Irrevocable: special purpose
Trusts with a narrow, specific job.
- Irrevocable
Blind trust
An independent trustee manages the assets without the beneficiary’s knowledge or control — often used by public officials to avoid conflicts of interest.
- Irrevocable
Purpose trust
Exists to carry out a non-charitable purpose — such as maintaining a family property or holding a business — rather than to benefit named people.
Revocable trusts
Trusts you can generally change or cancel while you are alive and have capacity.
- Revocable
Individual revocable living trust
One person creates the trust, usually serves as trustee, and names a successor trustee and beneficiaries.
- Revocable
Joint revocable living trust
A married couple places their assets in one shared trust and manages it together.
- Revocable
Community property trust
Lets a married couple opt into community property treatment, which can allow a full step-up in tax basis at the first death. Available in certain states, such as Alaska, Tennessee, South Dakota, Kentucky and Florida.
- Revocable
Land trust
Holds title to real estate, often for privacy. Available only under certain states’ laws, such as Illinois and Florida.
- Revocable
Gun trust (NFA trust)
Holds firearms regulated by the National Firearms Act, such as suppressors, so several trustees can lawfully possess them and pass them to heirs. Usually revocable.
- Revocable
Standby trust
Created now with little or no property, then funded later — for example by a pour-over will at death or by an agent if you become incapacitated.
- Revocable
Totten trust
A bank account held “in trust for” a named beneficiary, who receives the balance at death without probate.
Provisions you can build into a trust
Features that can be included in many revocable and irrevocable trusts.
- Provision
Spendthrift provision
Limits a beneficiary’s ability to sell or pledge their share and generally keeps creditors from reaching it before it is paid out. State laws list exceptions.
- Provision
Staggered distributions
Pays out in stages — for example, a portion at 25, 30 and 35 — instead of all at once.
- Provision
Discretionary distributions
Lets the trustee decide when and how much to pay each beneficiary, within the guidelines you set.
- Provision
Incentive provisions
Ties distributions to milestones you choose, such as finishing school or matching earned income.
- Provision
Trust protector
Names an independent person with limited powers — such as replacing a trustee — to help the trust adapt over time.
- Provision
Directed trust
Divides duties — such as investments, distributions and administration — among different advisers or trustees.
- Provision
Silent trust
Delays or limits telling beneficiaries that the trust exists. Permitted in some states, such as South Dakota, Delaware and Nevada.
- Provision
Decanting power
Lets a trustee move assets from an existing trust into a new one with updated terms, where state law allows.
- Provision
Power of appointment
Gives someone — often a beneficiary — the power to decide who receives trust assets in the future.
- Provision
HEMS standard
Limits distributions to health, education, maintenance and support — a common standard for trustee decisions.
- Provision
Sprinkle provision
Lets the trustee divide income or principal among several beneficiaries based on their needs.
- Provision
No-contest clause
A beneficiary who challenges the trust can lose their share. How strictly courts enforce it varies by state.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules vary by state, and many of these involve tax and benefit rules that call for professional advice. Trust With Us plans to offer specific types as each one’s questions and documents are ready.