Inter vivos

Inter vivos (Latin, "between the living") is a legal term referring to a transfer or gift made during one's lifetime, as opposed to a testamentary transfer (a gift that takes effect on death).

The term is often used to describe a trust established during one's lifetime, i.e., an Inter vivos trust as opposed to a Testamentary trust which is established on one's death, usually as part of a will. An Inter vivos trust is often used synonymously with the more common term Living trust, but an Inter vivos trust, by definition, includes both revocable and irrevocable trust, whereas Living trusts typically refer only to revocable trusts. [Google search 6/21/07, some definitions for "living trust" state that it is revocable, while other definitions state that it can be either revocable or irrevocable.]

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