Rhode Island living trusts & estate documents

Living trust law in Rhode Island

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 Rhode Island, trusts are governed by the R.I. Gen. Laws Title 18 (Fiduciaries).

Avoiding probate in Rhode Island

Probate in Rhode Island is governed by the R.I. Gen. Laws Title 33 and handled by a municipal Probate Court in each city and town. See state probate code for administration options.

Voluntary informal executor, R.I. Gen. Laws §33-24-1 — small estates up to $15,000 That simplified procedure is set out in Voluntary informal executor, R.I. Gen. Laws §33-24-1. A funded living trust passes outside probate entirely, whatever the size of the estate — which is why Rhode Island homeowners in particular set one up.

Estate and inheritance tax in Rhode Island

Rhode Island levies its own estate tax on top of the federal one, and at a much lower exemption: Rhode Island has an estate tax (exclusion around $1.8 million, indexed). 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 Rhode Island

Rhode Island also sets aside a reasonable family-support allowance for up to a year for a surviving spouse and minor children (R.I. Gen. Laws § 33-10-3), protected ahead of most creditors.

Signing your Rhode Island documents

1. Sign the living trust. Executed and acknowledged before a notary.
2. Sign the will. Two witnesses; notarized self-proving affidavit included (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 in the presence of two adult witnesses and before a Notary Public, as the form’s execution block provides.
5. Follow your package instructions. Your package includes page-by-page signing instructions written for Rhode Island — follow those as the authoritative guide.

Serving all of Rhode Island

Answer the questionnaire from anywhere in Rhode Island and download your completed documents in minutes: Providence, Cranston, Warwick, Pawtucket, East Providence, Woonsocket, Coventry, Cumberland, North Providence, South Kingstown, West Warwick, Johnston, and every community in between.