Trust Funding

What is Trust Funding?

Trust Funding is the re-titling of assets to make them owned by your Trust.

When you have your Estate Plan created by Owens & Perkins, at the signing appointment, you will receive homework detailing the steps you will need to take to properly fund your Trust.

If you own a home, we will prepare a deed to transfer your home into your Trust.  This will be the initial Trust Funding as it will be the first asset titled to the Trust.

Next, you will need to re-title the names of your bank accounts, brokerage accounts, investment accounts and the like.

You cannot re-title your retirement benefits into the Trust and before taking any action on your beneficiary designation on your retirement benefits, you should first consult with an Attorney and CPA.

If, at the time of your passing, your Trust is properly funded, the Successor Trustee will simply need to fill out paperwork to be able to take control over your assets and investments and administer your Trust pursuant to the terms you set forth in the Trust document.

If, at the time of your passing, your Trust is NOT properly funded, your Estate could require both a Trust Administration and a probate proceeding (through the Court).

One of the many benefits of establishing a Trust is to avoid probate.  If your Trust is not properly funded, you could easily lose that important benefit, significantly increasing the cost of administering your entire estate (assets in the Trust and assets that were not in the Trust).

At Owens & Perkins we work with our clients to teach them how to properly title assets as life goes on after the Trust formation and we are always here to answer any questions you may have, having been proudly serving the Valley of the Sun since 1967.