Your estate planning attorney can help you draft a revocable living trust, see our blog on Revocable Living Trusts. Once you create the trust and sign the document, funding the trust is necessary. Funding the trust is accomplished by transferring assets into the trust by retitling or deeding those assets to the trust and by updating beneficiaries.
What Assets Can I Put in a Revocable Living Trust?
You can put any assets you want in the living trust, except for those prohibited by law or regulation. You cannot put IRAs, Keough Plans, and 401(k)s into a revocable living trust. However, you can name beneficiaries on your retirement accounts or choose other estate planning solutions for them.
You can put real property, even your home, into your trust. A deed will transfer ownership of the property from your name as an individual (or couple), to you as the Trustee of your trust. Because a trust doesn’t die, there is no probate or change of ownership at your passing. Your successor Trustee simply steps in as the person in charge of the trust, and therefore the real estate, and can sell or distribute the property as your Trust tells them to. You still qualify for your homestead exemption (and all other exemptions) for your primary residence in Georgia.
You can assign your interest in an LLC or the shares from a corporation to your trust so that your Trustee can manage a business after your passing. An assignment can allow your Trustee to potentially continue the business, dissolve the business, or temporarily manage the business without a freeze on the accounts, production, and day to day transactions.
Bank accounts, including checking, savings, and money market accounts can be retitled into your trust (depending on your financial institution). Some banks will allow you to change the name on the account but keep the same account number and bill pay in place. Some banks will require you open a trust account and transfer your funds into your new accounts. Some banks do not allow trust accounts at all and a Payable on Death designation is necessary to assure the account passes to your trust and not through probate.
Funding Your Revocable Living Trust
At Grissom Law, we can create your estate plan, but we also work with you, your financial planner, and others to help make sure your trust is funded correctly. Like anything in life, the follow through is the most important step in a Revocable Living Trust. We can help make sure your assets are titled appropriately and that everyone on your financial team understands your revocable living trust. Contact us at 678.781.9230 to schedule a time to discuss your needs.
Disclaimer
This Blog/Web Site is made available for educational purposes only as well as to give you general information and a general understanding of the law, not to provide legal advice. By using this blog site you understand that there is no attorney-client relationship between you and Grissom Law, LLC.