Every person wants his/her assets to be appropriately distributed to the heirs after his/her death. Therefore, estate planning must be an essential part of life. It ensures to distribute your assets rightly and saves your hard-earned money to go in the form of taxes after your demise. However, probate can be an expensive and time-consuming process. Building a revocable trust can be an excellent way to avoid the hassle of probate. Hire a Probate Attorney Near Me 11577 to place your assets in a trust to save time, money, and energy of your heirs after your demise.
Can All Assets Be Placed In A Revocable Trust?
First of all, you need to understand what revocable trust is and how it helps avoid probate. A trust is an agreement that allows a trustee to manage your assets. In the trust, you also have to mention the details about your heirs and their share. After your demise, the trustee will distribute all your assets to your heirs mentioned on the trust agreement.
The best thing about living trust is that it is flexible in nature. Hence, you can easily modify it if the circumstance changes. After the creation of revocable trust, the funding process begins. In this step, you have to transfer your assets in the name of the living trust. You can put different types of assets in the living trust, including your bank accounts, stocks, bonds, and real estate. Trust also lets you remove your property from it at any time until you are alive.
An attorney can help you in building trust as well as in the funding process. Probate laws can vary from state to state. Not all assets are right to place in the living trust. For instance, if you place your automobiles in the living trust, you have to face insurance issues. Moreover, vehicles also lose their value with time. It makes them unsuitable for the trust. Therefore, you must always take help from professionals that can help you place the right assets in your living trust. The most appropriate assets to put in the trust are as follows.
Real Estate
Most people consider real estate as their most valuable asset. Their main aim of creating a living trust is to avoid their estate from going through the probate process. To transfer your property into the trust, you need to record a new deed of the estate in the name of the living trust. You will not face any problem to put your estate into the living trust even if any mortgage or loan is against it. It is because the mortgage follows the property.
After your death, the loan against the estate will automatically transfer to your beneficiaries. However, you must always inform the lender before transferring your property into the trust. It will ensure that whether there is a requirement of any additional steps or not so that your heirs will not have to face any problems in the future.
Transfer Your Cash Or Saving Accounts Into The Trust With Probate Attorney Near Me 11577
You can fund various types of accounts in the name of the trust, including cash, savings, CDs, and money markets. However, you must be careful with the CDs as the bank can consider retitling as the withdrawal of the funds earlier than the required time. Therefore, you must take this step after the maturing of the CD.
The process to place the non-retirement investment and brokerage accounts in the trust is something different. You cannot retitle them due to income tax consequences. Rather than changing the title, you can place the name of the living trust as the beneficiary. The account will remain outside the living trust during the lifetime. Upon your death, it automatically gets a transfer to the trust. However, you must not forget to take advice from any professional before taking any step.
A Probate Attorney Near Me 11577 Can Help You To Put Your Stocks And Bonds Into The Trust
To fund the stocks into your trust, you have to return the original certificate to the stock transfer agent to get a new one. For this, you need Medallion Signature Guarantee on the form. The agent will explain to you the further steps in the process.
Final Words
Trust is like an empty vessel without the funding process. It will be of no use if you forget to transfer your assets into the trust. You can place various kinds of assets into the trust. However, some assets like retirement accounts or medical savings accounts are not suitable to fund in trust. Therefore, you must always take the help of a Probate Attorney Near Me 11577 to build and fund the trust. He/she can help you to make the best estate plan according to your needs.
