Legal Question in Administrative Law in Virginia

Re: Revocable Trust

I am very sorry to hear it. I hope you are doing well.

First, I don't know what your revocable trust says, but I assume that the revocable trust

a) Makes you the beneficiary after the loss of your spouse

b) Makes you the TRUSTEE after the loss of your spouse.

Nearly all trusts for a husband and wife do, and while I could wait and read it first, that is by far the most probable formula, maybe 95% of the time.

If so, then anything owned by the trust, continues to be owned by the trust, with no change whatsoever.

You become 100% in control of the trust and anything owned by the trust, and you may use that property for your own benefit.

(NOTE: Pay attention to whether there are "remaindermen" -- beneficiaries who receive any trust property after you depart. If so, you may have obligations to them. But in most cases, any reasonable needs you have will be 100% within your rights. You could not, for example, burn down the house and deprive the remaindermen of it, but you could take WHATEVER you reasonably need for your own well-being and support.)

SO IF the house is owned by the trust, then you don't need to do anything.

The "owner" does not change (the trust). The only thing that changes is that you speak for the trust now. You may have to show banks, etc. the trust + death certificate to demonstrate that you are the only trustee.

When people create a trust, they must also transfer property INTO the trust. If you had a lawyer, or even a good information package, that should have been taken care of then. (Even if it was not done properly, things should work out okay, but then things would be handled through probate, which is more work.)

HOWEVER, your spouse may have had property "outside" the trust. Personal property, money, car, NOT officially in the name of the trust.

This would have to be handled normally by probate. Contact your County's Clerk of the Court and the Commissioner of Accounts to ask about their procedures. (They won't give you advice, but they will explain their procedures.)

If there is a will -- separate from the trust -- of course it must be followed.

If the amount of money and property your spouse owned OUTSIDE the trust is small, there is an abbreviated, simplified procedure for small estates.