Thursday, October 4, 2012

Retitling Real Estate and Bank Accounts into Your Trust

Many clients come to see me to update their trust, often from out of state, or with a trust drafted by another attorney.  However, I find that they often have not completed the process of "funding" their trust.

When you set up a revocable or living trust, you are setting up a trust that exists during your lifetime.  You may have done so for estate tax planning purposes, or perhaps to avoid probate.

However, if you do not actually change the title or ownership of your assets into the name of your trust, you are generally not avoiding probate.  That means that if you pass away, someone will still have to open an estate at the courthouse and administer your estate (filing court documents, accountings, publishing a creditor's notice, etc.) in every state and county where you own real estate, and handle every bank account in your personal name through your probate estate.

So, please remember to make sure your attorney prepares and records a deed transferring the property from you to yourself as trustee of your trust.  And, make sure to retitle your bank accounts to yourself as trustee of your trust.

3 comments:

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  2. That is correct. IF YOU DO NOT RETITLE your real estate and bank accounts, someone would still have to go through an estate at the courthouse (probate). One goal of establishing a trust is usually to avoid the court probate process. However, I find too often that people skip this very important step.

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  3. That means that if you pass away, real estate louisville someone will still have to open an estate at the courthouse and administer your estate (filing court documents, accountings,

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