{"id":48,"date":"2024-03-21T22:26:44","date_gmt":"2024-03-21T22:26:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bidwelllaw.com\/?p=48"},"modified":"2024-03-21T22:26:44","modified_gmt":"2024-03-21T22:26:44","slug":"how-to-fund-your-trust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bidwelllaw.com\/?p=48","title":{"rendered":"How to Fund Your Trust"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry\">\n\n\n<p>Trusts provide for the post-death transfer of assets at a minimum cost and effort. But, a trust cannot just be created; it must also be \u201cfunded.\u201d An unfunded trust does not avoid probate and is a common, costly mistake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFunding a trust\u201d changes how an asset is owned. It is not a change of owners. Instead of owning an asset in name only, the asset is owned by the same person as the \u2018trustee\u2019 of a revocable trust. How an asset is funded depends on its type.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Real property<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The change in how California real property is owned is by <a href=\"https:\/\/deedandrecord.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">deed<\/a>. The deed to fund a trust changes the title from an individual as an owner in name only to an individual as trustee of his or her trust. The county recorder records the deed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bank, broker and stock accounts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Bank, brokerage, and stock accounts are funded by ownership, changing from individual to trust. Banks and stockbrokers are contacted. The trust itself or a summary of key terms of the trust, known as a \u201ccertificate of trust,\u201d is provided to bankers and brokers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Retirement accounts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Retirement plans are funded by a <a href=\"https:\/\/bidwelllaw.com\/?p=52\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">designated beneficiary,<\/a> who is a person identified as the payee on the death of the retirement account owner. Generally, it&#8217;s best to avoid naming the trust as a designated beneficiary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Plan administrators provide forms for the owner to name or change the designated beneficiary. The primary designated beneficiary is the non-owning spouse, and the alternate or secondary beneficiaries are individuals such as children, close relatives, or friends. A trust should be a designated beneficiary for minor children or a child with special needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A designated beneficiary funds life insurance policies. A designated beneficiary is a person or a trust identified as the payee on the insured&#8217;s death. Life insurance companies provide forms for the owner to name or change the designated beneficiary. For life insurance policies, the primary designated beneficiary is the trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Trusts provide for the post-death transfer of assets at a minimum cost and effort. However, a trust cannot just be created; it must also be \u201cfunded.\u201d An unfunded trust does not avoid probate. This is a common and very costly mistake.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trusts provide for the post-death transfer of assets at a minimum cost and effort. But a trust cannot just be created; it must also be \u201cfunded.\u201d An unfunded trust does not avoid probate, and it is a common and very costly mistake.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[29,27,28,31,30],"class_list":{"0":"post-48","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-trusts","8":"tag-bank-account","9":"tag-deed","10":"tag-designated-beneficiary","11":"tag-life-insurance","12":"tag-stock-account","13":"anons"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/bidwelllaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Wave-Tunnel-Medium.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bidwelllaw.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bidwelllaw.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bidwelllaw.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bidwelllaw.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bidwelllaw.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bidwelllaw.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89,"href":"https:\/\/bidwelllaw.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48\/revisions\/89"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bidwelllaw.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/50"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bidwelllaw.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bidwelllaw.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bidwelllaw.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}