You may have already chosen between a revocable or irrevocable trust type and legally documented it as part of your estate plan with the help of your lawyer. You may have even inventoried which assets you wish to incorporate into the trust and gathered what you believe to be the necessary documents to do so. Now, all there is left to do is actually transfer legal ownership over these assets from your name to the trust’s name. For more information, please follow along to find out how to properly fund your trust with assets and how a proficient Broward County trust lawyer at The Probate Lawyers can review the different procedures for each asset type.
How do I fund my trust with liquid assets?
You may have liquid assets (i.e., cash) saved in certain bank accounts or investment accounts with which you wish to fund your trust. Well, hopefully, the financial institution with which your accounts are being held can help streamline this process for you.
Generally speaking, a financial institution may require you to fill out and submit their version of paperwork that transfers these accounts from under your name to your trust’s name. They may even ask you to supplement this paperwork with a certificate of trust form that offers more details about the trust you are giving ownership rights. Or, they may simply ask for a complete copy of the trust you incorporate into your estate plan.
Now, the financial institution may take one of two approaches. They may simply switch the ownership over the trust and keep the same account numbers, or close these existing accounts and create new ones under the trust’s name which now has new account numbers. Either way, you should personal notes of these changes for yourself, your trust lawyer, and your future beneficiaries.
How do I fund my trust with life insurance and retirement accounts?
At first, grantors of trusts forget that they may fund their trust with many different assets besides liquid assets. That is, you may find it strategic to use your life insurance policy and/or retirement accounts. While you may simply name your spouse and/or children as the beneficiaries of these plans, you may list your trust’s name instead.
In this way, the proceeds from these plans may go directly to your trust upon your unfortunate passing. These proceeds may eventually get into the hands of your spouse, children, and other designated beneficiaries eventually. But overall, this method may be favorable if you wish to maintain more control over how, when, and in what manner these proceeds are distributed when you are no longer around to control this yourself.
All of this to say, the time to act is now. Please pick up the phone or message us at The Probate Lawyers. Surely, a talented Broward County estate lawyer on our team will be the perfect fit for your upcoming estate planning.
