Keep your estate out of Maryland probate. Drafted, signed, and titled the right way.
A revocable living trust is a common way for Maryland families to avoid probate, plan for incapacity, and pass assets privately. We draft it, prepare and record the deed for your real estate, and give you written step-by-step instructions for re-registering your bank, brokerage, and retirement accounts — signing ceremony included.
If any of these describes you, a trust is worth discussing.
A house alone often triggers probate. A funded trust passes it to your spouse or children without the Register of Wills, without a court file, and without the statutory probate fee.
Your trust holds their inheritance until they're old enough to manage it, names a trustee you've vetted, and stops a windfall at age 18.
Trust ownership keeps the business operating after your death, avoids a probate freeze on accounts, and coordinates with buy-sell and operating agreements.
Probate filings are public record in Maryland. A trust administration is private — neighbors and competitors don't see what you owned or who got it.
Real estate outside Maryland would normally require a second 'ancillary' probate in that state. A trust avoids it.
Unlike a will, a trust governs your assets during a stroke, dementia, or extended illness — your successor trustee steps in without a court guardianship.
Right tool for the job. Not a one-size-fits-all template.
- —Joint or individual
- —Pour-over will + POAs + advance directive
- —Deed preparation for primary residence
- —Step-by-step funding checklist you complete for accounts & beneficiaries
- —Successor trustee instructions
- —Removes policy proceeds from taxable estate
- —Crummey letter mechanics
- —Coordinated with overall estate plan
- —Annual gifting schedule
- —Protects home and savings from spend-down
- —Preserves step-up in basis at death
- —Income to grantor during life
- —Coordinated with elder-law counsel
- —Preserves SSI / Medicaid eligibility
- —Third-party or self-settled (d4A)
- —Maryland trustee guidance
- —Coordinated with ABLE accounts
From the Legacy Planning Session to signing in 4-6 weeks.
15 minutes. We learn what you own, who you're protecting, and where the gaps are.
We sit down with you, hear what matters most, review your family structure and assets, and guide you toward the plan that fits. This is where you tell us what you want, we propose the right approach, and we quote your fee in writing.
We gather every detail — who makes healthcare decisions for you, who serves as your successor trustee, how your estate is distributed, and to whom. Every choice gets documented exactly as you intend it.
We review every document together before you sign a single page. Once everything matches your wishes exactly, you sign. Then we fund — we handle funding directly for real estate, personal property, and certain business interests. For bank, brokerage, and retirement accounts we walk you through re-registering them into the trust yourself — we don't retitle those accounts for you, but you're never left guessing how.
Why Maryland makes trusts especially valuable.
Maryland is one of only a handful of states that imposes both a state estate tax (on estates over $5 million in 2026) and a separate inheritance tax on assets passing to non-lineal heirs like nieces, nephews, or friends. The right trust structure can reduce or eliminate both.
Maryland probate runs through the Register of Wills in each of the 24 counties, and statutory fees scale with estate value. On a $1.5M Anne Arundel County estate, those fees plus accountings, bond, and personal-representative commission could easily exceed $60,000 — money that a funded trust simply avoids.
- $5,000,000Maryland estate-tax exemption (2026)
- 10%Maryland inheritance tax rate on non-lineal heirs
- $50,000Small-estate probate threshold ($100K if surviving spouse is sole heir)
- 5 YearsMedicaid lookback for protected transfers
Plain-English answers.
Ready for a trust that actually works?
Plain language. Signing typically happens 4-6 weeks from the Legacy Planning Session. The introductory call is at no charge.