Years ago, I had clients into my office.  Sadly, their father had recently passed away.  They brought with them a very elaborate notebook containing their Father's Living Trust Documents.  The language of the Trust was extensive and seemed to provide for every possible contingency.  UNFORTUNATELY, upon investigation, we learned that the Trust owned NOTHING.  Despite the documents having been prepared by a very prestigous law firm, noone had properly instructed the client that the Trust needed to be FUNDED.   Without the Trust owning anything, it was not much more than a very expensive stack of paper.

If you set up a Living Trust, BE SURE THAT IT IS FUNDED.   This can be accomplished by Deed(s) transferring real estate from individual name(s) to the Trust and by instructing financial insitutions to transfer accounts into the name of the Trust.