Indiana living trusts & estate documents

Living trust law in Indiana

A revocable living trust holds your home, accounts, and other property during your life, you stay in full control as trustee and can change or revoke it any time, then passes it to your beneficiaries without probate when you're gone. In Indiana, trusts are governed by the Indiana Trust Code, IC 30-4.

Avoiding probate in Indiana

Probate in Indiana is governed by the Indiana Probate Code, IC 29-1 and handled by the Circuit and Superior Courts. Indiana allows unsupervised administration.

A small estate affidavit is available for estates of $100,000 or less (deaths after June 30, 2022). That simplified procedure is set out in IC 29-1-8-1. Assets held in a funded living trust pass to your beneficiaries without probate, whatever the size of the estate. Many Indiana homeowners set one up for that reason. Indiana also authorizes a transfer-on-death deed (Ind. Code § 32-17-14) to pass real estate outside probate. A living trust does the same for every asset, not just real estate.

In Indiana, creditors generally have 3 months after the first published notice, with a 9-month absolute bar from death to file claims against the estate (Ind. Code § 29-1-14-1), one reason court probate takes time that a funded trust avoids.

Estate and inheritance tax in Indiana

Indiana repealed its inheritance tax (2013); no estate tax. The separate federal estate tax reaches only estates above $15 million per person (2026, adjusted yearly), so most families never owe it.

Protecting a surviving spouse in Indiana

A surviving spouse in Indiana who is left out of the will can instead claim an elective share of one-half of the net estate under Ind. Code § 29-1-3-1, a protection the will itself cannot override.

Indiana also sets aside a survivor's allowance of $25,000 for the surviving spouse, or if there is none the decedent's children under 18 (Ind. Code § 29-1-4-1).

Signing your Indiana documents

1. Sign the living trust. Executed and acknowledged before a notary.
2. Sign the will. Two witnesses, who sign in your presence and in each other's presence (IC 29-1-5-3); a self-proving clause signed by you and your witnesses is included, and it needs no notary (IC 29-1-5-3.1) (standalone and pour-over wills).
3. Sign the power of attorney. Sign your Durable Power of Attorney before a Notary Public.
4. Sign the health care documents. Sign your Advance Health Care Directive before a Notary Public, who completes the notarial certificate printed after your signature. Indiana law (IC 16-36-7-28) allows an advance directive to be signed either in the presence of two adult witnesses, at least one of whom is not your spouse or other relative, or in the presence of a notarial officer; your form uses the notary method, so no witnesses are needed.
5. Follow your package instructions. Your package includes page-by-page signing instructions written for Indiana. Follow those as the authoritative guide.

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