How to Ensure That Your Trust Is Funded Properly
Creating a trust can be a great way of ensuring that your kids or pets are taken care of after you pass on. It can also be a great way to provide money to charitable organizations or otherwise manage your estate while you are alive. However, it is important that you actually fund the trust to ensure that it takes effect when you want or need it to.
Creating a Pour-Over Will Is an Easy Way to Fund a Trust
One way to fund a trust is to create a pour-over will at some point during your life. A pour-over will is essentially a will that instructs the executor to put everything into a trust that was created at some point in the past. The use of such a will can be ideal for those who aren’t sure what to do with certain items or acquire property after the trust was created.
Assets Should Be Titled in Its Name
If a house is supposed to be in a trust, the title needs to be in the trust’s name. The same is true of a vehicle or anything else that comes with a title or a similar type of designation. Generally speaking, you can designate a trust as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy. This means that when you die, the death benefit will typically just go into the trust where it will be distributed per your instructions.
Review Your Trust With an Attorney
It is generally in your best interest to work with a trust administration lawyer in Las Vegas to ensure that the trust is created properly. An attorney may also be able to help surviving relatives figure out what they need to do if a trust was not created properly. In some cases, this may mean going through probate as assets will likely be left in the estate.