Elder
Law and Estate Planning lawyers often use confusing terms to describe the
documents that they prepare. One example is a “living trust” also called a
“revocable trust” or “inter vivos trust”. All of these refer to a document that
attempts to avoid probate by having a trust set up to take possession of a
person’s assets and spell out the terms of distribution in the document, thus
avoiding the need to file for probate (but not always).
“Living
Will”, often a part of a document called an “advanced directive”, does not
refer to a Last Will and Testament. It is a document which recites an
individual’s wishes about end-of-life decisions such as when treatment should
be halted and nature allowed to take its course.
“Last Will and
Testament” describes a document that is filed for probate and designates who
gets what of an individual’s assets when he or she passes away.
