What happens to a living trust when someone dies?

When the person who created the living trust dies, the successor trustee named in the trust takes over and follows the instructions contained in the trust document. The trustee’s responsibilities usually include gathering assets, obtaining date-of-death values, paying debts and taxes, managing investments and real estate, and eventually distributing assets to beneficiaries according to the trust terms.

In most cases, this process occurs privately without the need for probate court, which is one of the primary reasons many families create living trusts in the first place.