Revocable Gifts of Personal Property: A Possible Will Substitute, Part I

John L. Garvey, The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law

Abstract

The uncertainty, delay, and expense that frequently attend the testamentary gift as it passes through probate and administration have caused many people to seek a different means of providing for the posthumous distribution of their property among their families and friends. The revocable trust has proven to be a popular answer to this quest. For the revocable trust enables a settlor to retain his pre-eminence while making a gift which technically is not testamentary and which therefore need not pass through probate and administration.