Once your trust has been signed, a very important task remains to be accomplished. In order to achieve your objectives of avoidance of court-supervised conservatorship proceedings if you are incapacitated or probate at your death, assets must be transferred to the trustee of the living trust. As discussed above, this is known as "funding" the trust. A living trust can hold both separate and community property. If community property is held in a living trust, then both spouses are the grantors.

A trust, like a corporation, is an entity that exists only on paper but is legally capable of owning property. A flesh-and-blood person, however, must actually be in charge of the property; that person is called the trustee. You can be the trustee of your own living trust, keeping full control over all property legally owned by the trust. There are many kinds of trusts.

No. All your assets except IRA and pension benefits, which have beneficiary designations, should actually be owned by your Revocable Living Trust. We transfer your real estate and all your personal property for you. The only assets you need to transfer are your stocks, bonds, and bank accounts and, in most cases, there is no fee for changing title to these assets. A simple beneficiary change is used for "Tax-Qualified" plans such as IRAs, 401Ks, and pension benefits.

No. General rule of law holds that whatever you can access, others may access as well. Assets in a revocable living trust are open and available to you; therefore, they are also open and available to Medicaid. What would make your assets safe is an irrevocable living trust, such as the MPS™ Trademarked Medicaid Trusts we offer. These allow you to retain access to and control of your assets, while protecting them at the same time.

Absolutely not. You keep full control over your property. As the creator of your trust, you can do everything with your trust assets as you could do before you established the trust. Nothing changes except the title by which the assets are held. Usually, the grantor is the trustee of his or her own trust. When you establish a Living Trust, you transfer all of your property from your name into the name of the trustee of your trust.

Simply put, NO. The revocable living trust can be a useful estate planning tool, which, when properly funded, will result in the avoidance of the probate process for the assets transferred to it, but it affords no protection from your creditors. If you get sued and lose, a court can order you to revoke the trust and pay the creditor.

The assets that should commonly be placed in a revocable living trust are your home(s), other real property, time shares, personal property, bank savings accounts, certificates of deposit, credit union accounts, savings and loan accounts, stock certificates, brokerage accounts, mutual funds, interests in any business and exotic or collectible/classic cars.

Transfer to the trust of some assets may not be necessary, provided the value of this property combined with other assets outside the trust is less than $100,000. Probate is required if the assets in a person's name at death exceed $100,000 in total value. For the sake of convenience, certain assets such as a car and checking account are often kept out of a revocable living trust.

Creditors are entitled to reach the assets of a "living trust" during the grantor's lifetime. Even where the trust is irrevocable, if the transfer is made to that trust while there are unpaid creditors of the grantor, creditors can generally reach the assets of the trust. Creditors may generally reach the assets of any trust to the extent that the grantor can enforce his or her own rights to trust assets.

No. A Revocable Living Trust is designed to separate your assets from you just enough that they are not subject to Probate. Because you retain control of your assets, they are still subject to any form of collection.

A living trust is revocable. The assets are still under your complete control. You can do the same things with them that you could before you set up your living trust because it is a revocable trust. TOP ^

Most states have statutes to cover a “small administration”. This means, that if the total assets left out were below a certain threshold, they can still be transferred to the Trust without a Probate. Experienced lawyers and attorneys offers legal representation in estate planning, trusts, wills, probate, with offices in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa, Prescott, Sedona, Sun City, Tucson, Payson & Flagstaff.

YES. In fact, unless it is owned jointly with rights of survivorship (see more below) all real estate should be transferred into your Living Trust. Otherwise, upon your death, depending upon how you hold title, there will be a probate proceeding in every state in which you own real property. When your real property is owned by your Living Trust, there is no probate anywhere.

Yes. In fact all real estate should be transferred into your Family Trust. Otherwise, upon your death, there will be a Probate in every state where you own real property. When it is owned by your Living Trust, there is no Probate anywhere.

The expense of a living trust comes up front. Many lawyers would charge relatively little for drafting your will, in hopes of getting your estate later as a client. They may charge more for a living trust. Some people have chosen to use a self-help book or software program, to create a Declaration of Trust (the document that creates a trust) yourself. They may consult a lawyer if they have questions that the self-help publication doesn't answer.

A simple probate-avoidance living trust has no effect on either income or estate taxes. More complicated living trusts, however, can greatly reduce your federal estate tax bill if you expect your estate to owe estate tax at your death. Professional guidance is needed to set up such trusts.