Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Virginia

Re: living trusts

The term "living trust" can be confusing and sometimes is confused with "living will". The better term is revocable trust which you as trustee can set up, maintain, or revoke at any time while you're still alive.

And, yes, the trust can be structured in a way to avoid any "legal entanglements" or adverse effects on the assets that are to go into your trust occasioned in the past life of your prospective spouse. It's possible that such a trust could be done by a lay person from what you've termed a "kit", but where substantial assets are at stake (which are typical of a trust), the services of a lawyer with experience and knowledge in this area of the law should be engaged to ensure that there are no slip ups which could be costly at some future time.