A revocable living trust is a container you create for your assets while you are alive. You keep full control - you are the trustee, you can change or cancel it anytime - and when you pass, your successor trustee distributes everything privately, in weeks, with no court involved. It is the most complete answer Arizona planning offers, and also the most misunderstood.
The same estate, two paths
No plan: probate
6 to 12 months on a court calendar, $5,000 to $15,000 in typical attorney fees, all of it public record.
Funded living trust
Distributed privately in weeks. One-time setup: $1,500 to $3,000.
What Arizona law requires
Under A.R.S. § 14-10402, a trust needs a settlor with capacity and intent, a definite beneficiary, a trustee with real duties, and the same person not serving as sole trustee and sole beneficiary. And Arizona's default answers the question everyone asks: under A.R.S. § 14-10602, unless the trust document expressly says it is irrevocable, the settlor may revoke or amend it. You are not locking anything away - see the revocable trust guide for how control works day to day.
The funding step everyone skips
A trust only controls assets actually titled into it. The house must be deeded to the trust. Accounts must be retitled or aimed at it. An unfunded trust - signed, notarized, and never funded - is an expensive stack of paper, and the estate it was meant to protect goes through probate anyway. If you take one sentence from this library, take that one.
Do you actually need one?
Honest answer: not everyone does. A modest estate with adult beneficiaries can often route around probate with a beneficiary deed and current designations - compare in trust vs will. The trust earns its cost when any of these apply: minor or spendthrift beneficiaries, blended families, more than one property, incapacity planning, or privacy across the whole estate. The cost guide puts real numbers on both sides.
The trust library
- What a living trust costs in Arizona - and what skipping one costs.
- Living trust vs will - the honest comparison.
- The revocable living trust - how control and revocation work.
- The irrevocable trust - what it is for, and why most families do not need one.
Sources
- A.R.S. § 14-10402 (trust creation requirements) (full text, checked 2026-08-09)
- A.R.S. § 14-10602 (revocation or amendment of revocable trust) (checked 2026-08-09)
Educational information only, not legal advice. Trust drafting and funding are legal work - Heirworth connects you with licensed professionals for that.