{"id":115,"date":"2012-01-30T21:05:13","date_gmt":"2012-01-30T21:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.estatetrustlawyer.com\/blog\/?p=115"},"modified":"2012-01-30T21:05:13","modified_gmt":"2012-01-30T21:05:13","slug":"dont-forget-the-final-and-crucial-step-to-setting-up-your-trust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.estatetrustlawyer.com\/blog\/dont-forget-the-final-and-crucial-step-to-setting-up-your-trust\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Forget the Final (And Crucial) Step to Setting Up Your Trust"},"content":{"rendered":"

I write frequently on my blog about the importance of having a top-notch estate plan, but just as important as having<\/em> an estate plan is maintaining<\/em> your estate plan. Once we\u2019ve worked to create the perfect trust to protect your family, you\u2019ll need to re-title any assets you\u2019d like to be protected into name of your trust. This is called Funding.<\/strong> Funding a trust is not difficult at all, but when you don\u2019t know where to start it can seem daunting.\u00a0 The result is that even the best of us may be tempted to procrastinate, sometimes to the point of negligence.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Here are a few tips to get you started on the process.\u00a0 Each trust will be different, but the following suggestions are a foundation to begin<\/em> funding just about every revocable trust:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Bank Accounts<\/strong>: For this you will need your Certification of Trust<\/strong>.\u00a0 This is the document your bank will require to put your account(s) in the name of your trust.\u00a0 With this document it\u2019s a quick matter to stop by the bank some afternoon and ask them to make your trust the owner of your accounts.\u00a0 NOTE: You should NOT be required to change the name on your checks or bank cards!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Real Property<\/strong>: Check your records to make sure your home is in the name of your trust. \u00a0Even if you know you transferred your home into your revocable trust, refinancing will often result in your home being taken out of it.\u00a0 If your home is not owned by the trust, contact your attorney to have it put back in.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Stocks and Investments<\/strong>: Contact your broker, financial advisor, or transfer agent to change the title of the investment accounts to the name of the trust.\u00a0 For stocks owned outside of an investment account, ask for the certificate to be re-issued in the name of your trust.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Personal Property<\/strong>: Tangible personal property such as antiques or artwork often cannot be titled in the name of a trust.\u00a0 But you can tell your attorney you\u2019d like to sign an Assignment of Personal Property<\/strong>, sometimes called a Comprehensive Transfer Document<\/strong>.\u00a0 This states your intention to hold all of your tangible property in the name of, and for the benefit of, your revocable trust.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t let your trust turn into an empty shell.\u00a0 The funding process is much easier than you think.\u00a0 Once you get started you\u2019ll gather momentum quickly.\u00a0 The coordination of retirement accounts with trusts, such as IRAs or 401(k)s, is a very complex issue, and should not be attempted without the help of a lawyer due to the possible inadvertent tax consequences and penalties.\u00a0 A full discussion of this type of account is beyond the scope of this article.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I write frequently on my blog about the importance of having a top-notch estate plan, but just as important as having an estate plan is maintaining your estate plan. Once we\u2019ve worked to create the perfect trust to protect your family, you\u2019ll need to re-title any assets you\u2019d like to be protected into name of… Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[18,94,53],"class_list":["post-115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-estate-planning","tag-california-estate-planning","tag-funding","tag-revocable-living-trust"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.estatetrustlawyer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.estatetrustlawyer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.estatetrustlawyer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.estatetrustlawyer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.estatetrustlawyer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.estatetrustlawyer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.estatetrustlawyer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.estatetrustlawyer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.estatetrustlawyer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}