Can a living trust own my LLC interest or S corporation shares?
Yes. A revocable living trust can own LLC membership interests and corporate stock, including S corporation shares, because federal tax law treats a trust you can revoke as owned by you, and lists such a trust as an eligible S corporation shareholder for your lifetime and for two years after your death. The transfer has to actually happen, usually by a written assignment of the LLC interest or a reissued stock certificate, and your operating or shareholder agreement may require the other owners’ consent first.
Decide where your business goes.
- Will packageA last will and testament, prepared online from your answers.from $695
- Trust packageA revocable living trust with a certification of trust and a pour-over will, prepared online from your answers.from $1,495
Starting prices, per person. Couples can set up a joint trust for both of you, or two plans with $100 off the second.
- Free health care directive: Says who decides about your medical care if you cannot, and what you want.
- Free financial power of attorney: Names who can handle your money matters if you are alive but unable to act for yourself.
Boring Insurance Agency is a licensed insurance agency, not a law firm, and does not provide legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is created by using this service. These documents are self-help forms prepared from the information you provide. Laws vary by state, and your circumstances may require changes these forms do not make. We recommend you have an attorney licensed in your state review your documents before you sign them.
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Kevin Kelsey
Founder | Principal Agent
Founder and principal agent of Boring Insurance, CA License #6011822. He put off his own estate plan because he did not want to take the time to find a lawyer, then built the offer so owners can set up a will or living trust online and fund it with life insurance. He is a licensed agent, not an attorney, and these pages are not legal advice.
At a glance
LLC membership interest
- Can the trust hold it?
- Yes
- How it usually moves in
- A written assignment to the trustee, with any consent the operating agreement requires
S corporation shares
- Can the trust hold it?
- Yes, during your life and for two years after death
- How it usually moves in
- New certificate or ledger entry in the trustee’s name
C corporation shares
- Can the trust hold it?
- Yes
- How it usually moves in
- New certificate or ledger entry in the trustee’s name
Sole proprietorship assets
- Can the trust hold it?
- Yes, asset by asset
- How it usually moves in
- Retitled or assigned one at a time
The detail
Federal law treats a grantor as the owner of any portion of a trust "where at any time the power to revest in the grantor title to such portion is exercisable by the grantor," which is what a revocable trust is.
26 U.S. Code section 676(a) (Cornell Legal Information Institute)
An eligible S corporation shareholder includes "A trust all of which is treated ... as owned by an individual who is a citizen or resident of the United States."
26 U.S. Code section 1361(c)(2)(A) (Cornell Legal Information Institute)
The same section allows a trust that qualified immediately before the owner’s death to keep holding the stock "only for the 2-year period beginning on the day of the deemed owner’s death."
26 U.S. Code section 1361(c)(2)(A) (Cornell Legal Information Institute)
A California trustee "may present a certification of trust to any person in lieu of providing a copy" of the trust, and a person who demands the full trust in bad faith can be liable for the damages the refusal causes.
California Probate Code section 18100.5 (certification of trust)
Our trust package includes a certification of trust and a pour-over will alongside the revocable living trust.
Our estate planning platform provider’s published description, checked 2026-10-05
What this means for you
- An unsigned assignment leaves the share outside the trust. The trust controls only what has been moved into it. A share still in your own name passes under your will, and your pour-over will sends it to the trust through probate.
- Check the agreement first. Operating and shareholder agreements often restrict transfers. A transfer to your own revocable trust is commonly allowed, but read it or ask the other owners to consent in writing.
- Plan the S corporation’s two years. After the two-year window the trust or its beneficiaries must qualify another way. That is a decision for your CPA and attorney, made before it is needed.
- Tell the lender and the insurer. Loan documents and some business policies refer to the owners by name. A change in title is a good moment to update both.
Go deeper on any of these
Related questions
- Does putting my LLC in a trust change its taxes?
Not while you are alive and the trust is revocable, because the tax code treats you as the owner. The company keeps its own tax status. Confirm with your CPA, especially for an S corporation.
- Do my partners have to agree?
Only if your operating or shareholder agreement says so. Many allow transfers to the owner’s own revocable trust; some require consent for any transfer.
- What happens to your share when you die
- Can I be the trustee of my own trust and still run the company?
Yes. With a revocable living trust you are usually the trustee during your life and keep running the business exactly as before. The successor trustee you name takes over only at your death or incapacity.
- How do I know whether I need a will, a trust or an attorney?
Take the Business Owner Plan Check. It asks about ten short questions about the business, your household and what you already have, then says whether most owners in your position set up a will or a living trust, or should see an attorney first, and estimates the life insurance in ranges with the arithmetic shown.
- Take the Plan Check
Set it up, then fund it
We set up wills and revocable living trusts through our online document platform, from $695 for a will and $1,495 for a trust, and we place the life insurance that pays into them. We do not draft operating, partnership or buy-sell agreements, and we do not give legal advice; when your situation needs an attorney, the Plan Check says so.
Boring Insurance Agency is a licensed insurance agency, not a law firm, and does not provide legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is created by using this service. These documents are self-help forms prepared from the information you provide. Laws vary by state, and your circumstances may require changes these forms do not make. We recommend you have an attorney licensed in your state review your documents before you sign them.
Written by Kevin Kelsey, founder and principal agent, CA License #6011822. Last updated 2026-10-05. See all guides.