Does a revocable trust automatically cover all assets?

If it is not titled in the trust, it is handled the way it is titled. If you believe you sister is going to argue, video your mothers wishes.

My mom says she wants me to use joint checking to pay for cleaning / painting her house for sale, and anything left over is for me, since I'm the only kid that has done anything for her, for about 30 yys. She wants the charity to have the small insurance policy, and changed that beneficiary as her own decision, after the last Trust revision, but my sister found out about the change is going crying to mom "you can't do that--everything has to be divided only to the 5 kids!" Which is not.what mom wants. And anyhow, me as DPOA cannot change beneficiaries, nor can I change or otherwise re-interpret the terms in her Will or Trust. So even though it looks to sister that I am putting myself or the charity, or 3 kids, ahead of her, I am only carrying out what mom wants. Maybe I need the Will & Trust to be totally explicit, have her expensive lawyer insert language saying that these 3 little assets are to be handled differently. But even that gives me pause since I would have to.drive my mom.to their office , I don't want to give any appearance that I was telling mom what to do. I only want to.carry out mom's wishes, and the interpretation I get from her specific names attached to these accounts, is indication that she wanted only these people to receive those assets--not to be divided among her 5 kids.

Trusts only cover what is owned (and titled) in the trust. But many individuals leave some small assets out of the trust. When your Mom passes, you will need money to pay immediate bills. Is your mom competent to make her own decisions? Ask her what her plan was. By any chance, is your sister the one that is not mentioned in any of the accounts?

PS - That should be her name "as trustee for the xxxx trust" on the first line, I believe, with the trust name inserted using the exact title of the trust, including all punctuation in exactly the right places. No trust assets should have her name listed alone, without the "trustee for the xxx trust" as part of it. Otherwise, it could be claimed that the trust doesn't fully own the asset. Gotta be real careful - you never know when this might bite you.

All accounts and/or assets that are to be included in the trust must be titled exactly as the trust requires, or it's not part of the trust. Title documents must be precise, so all real-estate related assets absolutely need to titled correctly. Get the bank accounts changed, that's your job as POA, if the POA has been sprung, you're in charge now. Keep in mind that nothing is in the trust, until it's transferred to it. For bank accounts, that's changing the owner's name or title.