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 administration of small estates, R.I. Gen. Laws §33-24-1 (or a voluntary executor under §33-24-2 where the will names an executor), is available 30 days after death when the estate consists entirely of personal property whose total value, exclusive of tangible personal property, does not exceed $15,000. Assets held in a funded living trust pass to your beneficiaries without probate, whatever the size of the estate. Many Rhode Island homeowners set one up for that reason.

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. R.I. Gen. Laws § 44-22-1.1 allows a Rhode Island credit of $64,400, adjusted each January 1 by the percentage increase in the CPI-U; the Rhode Island Division of Taxation publishes the resulting threshold, and for decedents dying on or after January 1, 2026 the credit amount is $87,940, exempting from taxation the first $1,838,056 of an estate (Advisory 2025-27, December 30, 2025). 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 the decedent's family, as the probate court allows (R.I. Gen. Laws § 33-10-3).

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 who meet the rules printed in the form. In Part I, both witnesses sign under the Statement of Witnesses, and at least one of them also signs the further declaration printed below their signatures. A Notary Public is not required.
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.