Revocable Trusts Versus Irrevocable Trusts
First, some definitions:
The person making the trust, the trust owner, is called the grantor.
The person in charge of managing and/or distributing a trust is called the trustee.
While the grantor is alive and competent, she can be both the grantor and the trustee. At her death, another person or persons take over to carry out the terms of the trust. These are called successor trustees.
Those who are given the trust assets as set out in the trust agreement are the trust beneficiaries. The grantor can also be a trust beneficiary during her lifetime.
Revocable means that the trust is changeable by the grantor. People don’t often revoke their trust but do amend them as circumstances change. If the trust is irrevocable, it usually can be neither revoked nor amended. We do use irrevocable trusts in certain situations, which will be described later….
