Your revocable living trust is not official unless and until you complete a proper signing ceremony. Make sure that you follow these tips to maximize the benefits of your trust and ensure that your wishes are followed to the fullest extent possible.
#1 Staple your trust documents prior to execution
If you are executing your revocable living trust in-person, staple your documents prior to execution and leave them in that form.
#2 Pick qualified, disinterested witnesses
Our guide to picking good witnesses describes why it’s important to pick qualified, disinterested individuals to witness signatures to your revocable living trust.
A disinterested witness is someone who does not have any family or strong personal connections to you, and who is not a beneficiary or fiduciary named in your estate plan. Since disinterested witnesses do not reasonably stand to inherit anything from your estate, the court is more likely to accept their attestation that you met the requirements for proper execution of your trust.
#3 Declare in plain English to your witnesses what you are signing as your voluntary act
Proper execution of your trust requires that you create and sign the document willingly and are of “sound mind.”
In addition to verbalizing a basic statement regarding your intent to create your revocable living trust and acknowledging that you do so freely, you might also consider providing your witnesses a very brief verbal overview of your family, the beneficiaries in your plan, and your assets. If you are disinheriting an individual or leaving unequal gifts to beneficiaries of the same class (i.e., children), providing a short 1-2 minute verbal overview can further demonstrate to your witnesses and/or the notary public that you are of sound mind and fully understand what you are doing by this document.
#4 Sign in the presence of your witnesses, and have them do the same
In the visual presence and hearing of your witnesses, sign your revocable living trust and invite your witnesses to do the same. Don’t let anyone leave the room until all parties apply their signatures. It shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes.
Although in some states you can sign outside of your witnesses' presence if, when your witnesses sign, you acknowledge to them that the signature on the document is yours and repeat the same attestations, most estate planning attorneys encourage their clients to sign in the presence of their witnesses as a more robust policy.
#5 Ensure your witnesses print their names and addresses legibly
Instruct your witnesses to print their names and addresses legibly and carefully, or do it for them and have them just sign their name. If someone attempts to challenge the validity of your revocable living trust and you have passed away or are otherwise unable to represent yourself, it may be necessary to contact the witnesses to secure their attestation and/or appearance in court. If your Trustee or Successor Trustee can't read their name and address because your witnesses’ handwriting is poor, that's a problem!
#6 Make your revocable living trust self-proved
You can make your revocable living trust self-proved by executing a self-proving affidavit with the help of a notary public. The Court accepts the written statement and seal of the notary public as proof that he or she, acting as an agent of the state, validated that the revocable living trusts's execution met the state’s requirements.
You can find a notary public at your local bank, which typically provides the notary service for free as long as you hold an account there.
Alternatively, if you work in a medium to large size office, chances are that an administrative assistant, HR representative, or someone else at your company is a notary public. This is a great way to nail your signing ceremony – you have a notary public and can typically find two co-workers who qualify as disinterested individuals. While you’re at it, you might even tell them how easy it was to create your revocable living trust with JIC Estates 😉.
Want more help nailing the perfect revocable living trust signing ceremony?
If you have any questions or would like additional help planning your revocable living trust signing ceremony, reach out to our JIC Estates support team on live chat or at support@justincaseestates.com. Even if you didn't create your last will with us, our team is standing by and happy to help.
