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Maryland Revocable Living Trust
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Maryland Revocable Living Trust

How a Maryland revocable living trust works under the Maryland Trust Act: creating and funding it, and the pour-over will that catches what you miss.

By Settled Editorial

A Maryland revocable living trust is an arrangement you set up while you are alive to hold your property and pass it to the people you name at death, outside probate. You keep full control as trustee, you can change or revoke it anytime, and a successor trustee takes over when you die or lose capacity.

Maryland trusts run under the Maryland Trust Act, Md. Code, Est. and Trusts Title 14.5. A trust works only for the assets you actually move into it, so the real work is funding, and a pour-over will backs up whatever you miss. Use this guide as a planning map, not legal advice. For the full list of ways to keep an estate out of probate, see the Maryland avoid-probate guide, and for where a trust fits among your documents, the Maryland estate planning basics guide.

What A Revocable Living Trust Is

Three roles make a revocable living trust work.

  • The settlor (also called the grantor or trustor) is you, the person who creates the trust and funds it.
  • The trustee manages the property in the trust. With a revocable trust you are usually your own trustee, so nothing about daily control changes.
  • The successor trustee is the person or trust company you name to step in when you die or can no longer act. They distribute or manage the assets under the terms you wrote, without a court appointment. The Maryland trust administration guide walks through the successor trustee's duties after your death.

Because the trust is revocable, you can amend the terms, add or remove property, or cancel it entirely while you have capacity. Maryland sets the capacity to create, amend, or revoke a revocable trust at the same level required to make a will (Est. and Trusts 14.5-601). The trust holds your property during life and, for the assets you fund into it, passes them to your beneficiaries at death without going through the Register of Wills or the Orphans' Court.

Creating The Trust Under The Maryland Trust Act

Maryland law asks for four things before a trust exists (Est. and Trusts 14.5-402): you have capacity, you show an intent to create the trust, the trust has a definite beneficiary who can be identified now or later, and the trustee has real duties to perform. A written trust document signed by you, and in most plans by the trustee, is how those pieces come together.

A revocable trust stays under your thumb. Unless the document expressly says the trust is irrevocable, Maryland treats it as revocable, and you may revoke or amend it by any method the document allows, by a later will or codicil that expressly refers to the trust, or by another act showing clear and convincing evidence of your intent (Est. and Trusts 14.5-602). This revocable-by-default rule applies to trusts under instruments signed on or after January 1, 2015. Older documents follow the prior rule, so check the date if you are working with a trust someone set up years ago.

While the trust stays revocable, the beneficiaries' rights bend to your wishes, and the trustee owes duties to you alone, not to the people who will inherit later (Est. and Trusts 14.5-603). That is what lets you treat the assets as your own during life.

Funding Is The Step That Actually Avoids Probate

Signing the trust is step one. Funding is the step that does the work. A trust avoids probate only for the property you retitle into it, and an unfunded trust changes nothing.

Funding usually means:

  • Recording a new deed that moves your real estate into the trust, filed in the land records with the Clerk of the Circuit Court for the county where the property sits.
  • Retitling bank and brokerage accounts into the name of the trust.
  • Updating other titled assets to name the trust as owner.

Here is why this matters more in Maryland than in many states. For a death before October 1, 2026, Maryland has no operative transfer-on-death deed for real estate, so a revocable trust or survivorship titling is the way to keep a house out of probate. Maryland enacted a transfer-on-death deed in 2026 (Chapter 751, House Bill 738) that takes effect October 1, 2026 for owners who die on or after that date, so treat that as a dated change to confirm, not today's rule. A funded trust also spares your family a second probate when you own property in more than one state. Compare a trust against a plain will in the Maryland avoid-probate guide, and see selling inherited property in Maryland for what clearing title looks like when real estate does pass through an estate.

The Pour-Over Will Backs It Up

Even a well-funded trust needs a will behind it. A pour-over will names your trust as the recipient of anything you did not move into the trust during life, so a forgotten account or a late-bought car still lands under the trust terms. Maryland allows this directly: a will may leave property to the trustee of a written trust, and the gift holds up even if you amended the trust after you signed the will, taking effect under the trust terms as they read on the date of your death (Est. and Trusts 4-411).

The pour-over will still gets signed like any Maryland will: by you, and attested and signed by two or more credible witnesses (Est. and Trusts 4-102). And the assets it catches still pass through the Register of Wills, because a pour-over will is a will. If what falls outside the trust is small, the estate may qualify for the small estate track when the property subject to administration is $50,000 or less, or $100,000 or less when the surviving spouse is the sole legatee or heir (Est. and Trusts 5-601). Keep the trust funded so the pour-over will has little to do.

What A Trust Does And Does Not Do In Maryland

A funded revocable trust gives a Maryland family four real benefits:

  1. Probate avoidance. Assets titled in the trust pass under the trust terms, so the successor trustee acts without an Orphans' Court appointment.
  2. Privacy. A will admitted to probate becomes a public record at the Register of Wills. A trust stays a private document.
  3. Incapacity planning. If you lose capacity, your successor trustee manages the trust assets right away, without a guardianship case through the Orphans' Court.
  4. Control over timing. You can direct that a beneficiary receives money at a set age or in stages instead of all at once.

Be honest about the limits. A trust does not lower Maryland's two death taxes. Property that passes to a person who is not exempt still owes the 10% Maryland inheritance tax (Tax-General 7-204), and a spouse, children and other lineal descendants, parents, grandparents, and siblings are exempt (Tax-General 7-203). Larger estates still face the Maryland estate tax above the $5,000,000 exemption, which is fixed and not indexed, at a top rate of 16% (Tax-General 7-309). The Maryland estate and inheritance tax guide walks through both. Assets in a revocable trust also get the same date-of-death step-up in cost basis as assets passing through a will, which can lower capital gains tax on a later sale (see the Maryland step-up in basis guide).

A Trust Does Not Replace These Documents

A trust handles property. It does not cover the decisions a trust cannot reach, so most plans pair it with two more documents. A durable financial power of attorney lets an agent manage assets you left outside the trust and handle acts a trustee cannot (Est. and Trusts Title 17). An advance directive lets an agent make health care decisions, which no trust addresses. See the Maryland power of attorney guide and the Maryland advance directive guide for those pieces. A surviving spouse also keeps an elective-share claim against the augmented estate that a trust cannot cut off, so coordinate the trust with your spouse's rights.

How To Decide

Work through a short checklist:

  1. List your assets and how each one is titled today.
  2. Mark which ones already skip probate through survivorship, payable-on-death or transfer-on-death forms, or a named beneficiary.
  3. Ask whether privacy, real estate, out-of-state property, incapacity planning, a blended family, or a beneficiary who needs protection applies to you.
  4. If real estate is the sticking point, remember Maryland has no operative transfer-on-death deed before October 1, 2026, so a trust or survivorship titling is your working option.
  5. Compare the setup and funding work against what the free tools already cover, then confirm the plan with a Maryland estate planning attorney.

Start with the Maryland probate guide to see the process a trust is meant to avoid, and the Maryland courts directory to find your Register of Wills. This guide is a planning map, and a lawyer can advise on which tools fit your family, your assets, and your goals.

Common Questions

Do I need a living trust in Maryland?

Not everyone does. Maryland's probate fee is modest, and estates under $50,000 pay $0 to the Register of Wills (Est. and Trusts 2-206). A trust earns its cost when you want privacy, own real estate you want to keep out of probate before the transfer-on-death deed takes effect on October 1, 2026, own property in more than one state, or want a successor trustee ready if you lose capacity.

Does a Maryland living trust avoid the inheritance tax?

No. A trust keeps assets out of the Orphans' Court, but property passing to a person who is not exempt still owes the 10% Maryland inheritance tax (Tax-General 7-204). A spouse, children and other lineal descendants, parents, grandparents, and siblings are exempt (Tax-General 7-203).

What happens if I forget to fund an asset into my trust?

That is what the pour-over will is for. It sends anything left outside the trust into the trust at death, though those assets pass through the Register of Wills first (Est. and Trusts 4-411). Keep the trust funded so the pour-over will has little left to carry.

Can I be my own trustee in Maryland?

Yes. With a revocable living trust you usually serve as your own trustee and keep full control, and while the trust stays revocable the trustee owes duties to you alone (Est. and Trusts 14.5-603). Your named successor trustee takes over only when you die or can no longer act.

Is a Maryland revocable trust protected from creditors?

No. Because you keep the power to revoke it, the assets stay reachable by your creditors during life and remain part of your taxable estate. A revocable trust is a probate-avoidance and control tool, not a shield from creditors or taxes.

This guide is general information about Maryland estates. It is not legal advice. Confirm anything that affects your situation with the Register of Wills, the Clerk of the Circuit Court, or a licensed Maryland attorney.

Sources:

It is not legal advice.

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Settled Estate is not a law firm and does not give legal advice.

Information current as of July 21, 2026

Settled Estate is not a law firm, and this content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Probate laws and procedures in Maryland can change. Consult with a qualified attorney for advice specific to your situation. Full disclaimer.

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