When you set up a living trust, you transfer assets from your name to the name of your trust, which you control — such as from “Bob and Sue Smith, husband and wife” to “Bob and Sue Smith, trustees under trust dated (month/day/year).”

Legally you no longer own anything; everything now belongs to your trust. So there is nothing for the courts to control when you die or become incapacitated. The concept is simple, but this is what keeps you and your family out of the courts.When you set up a living trust, you transfer assets from your name to the name of your trust, which you control — such as from “Bob and Sue Smith, husband and wife” to “Bob and Sue Smith, trustees under trust dated (month/day/year).