How to Name Your Trust: Some Thoughts

A small but meaningful recommendation we make for almost every estate planning client: name your revocable trust after yourself.

The John and Jane Smith Revocable Trust. Simple, obvious, yours.

This is not a well-settled preference, and some attorneys default to creative trust names or use something deliberately vague. Their theory is that a unique name adds a layer of privacy. And in one specific situation, we think that tradeoff is worth it (more on that in a second).

But for most clients, a trust named after themselves is simply more practical. When they go to retitle accounts, transfer property, or update beneficiary designations, the name on the trust matches the name on everything else. Financial institutions recognize it immediately. There is less friction, less confusion, and fewer calls asking what the trust is supposed to be called.

The exception is when a client is purchasing real property and wants their name kept out of public records. In that case, we recommend what is sometimes called a "blind trust," which is a trust with a distinctive name that does not identify the grantor and with someone other than the grantor serving as trustee. The property records show the trust name and the trustee, not the buyer's identity. For clients who want that layer of anonymity, it can be worth it.

But there are real tradeoffs. Lenders are often reluctant to lend to blind trusts, and when they will, the process tends to be significantly more complicated than a standard trust. So this structure works best for cash purchases, or for clients who have done their homework with their lender before we set it up.

It also requires a trustee the client genuinely trusts, and a client who understands the ongoing administrative implications.

For everyone else, our default recommendation is to keep it simple and name the trust after yourself. It makes everything that comes after easier.