Don wrote:
> On 2008-04-28 02:05:40 -0700, PeterL <po.ning@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> said:
>
>> Isn't part of the process of establi****ng a revocable trust the
>> transfer of assets into that trust? When I had mine done the lawyer
>> who did it also helped me transfer my assets into the trust. It's
>> part of the whole package of service.
>
> I believe one of the problems is that people forget to transfer
> something into the trust or some years later acquire a new asset and
> forget to put it in the trust. Then it turns out probate is necessary
> after all.
One way to look at it is, only assets that one would need to sell need
to be in a living trust, for example real estate, or stocks not in a
retirement account. Cash and retirement accounts (IRAs, annuities) can
have beneficiary designations which avoid probate, instead of being in a
trust.
I once thought it made sense to have cars titled in the name of the
trust but have since dropped that idea (although I might think
differently if I had a $50K car).
There is also a thing called a "pour over will" which puts miscellaneous
assets into a trust upon death, not sure how this differs from a
testamentary trust. A lawyer once told me that no more than $60K of
assets should be outside of the trust in order for it to be effective,
not sure if that number still makes sense.
Obviously state laws make a difference.
-Mark Bole
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