Overview

Your living trust is signed. Is it funded? Picture Helen Park, a widow who lives in Illinois. She signed her living trust and went home. Her deed and her bank accounts still carry her own name alone. The trust exists on paper, yet it owns nothing. What a gap like that costs your family If Helen dies in that state, her house and accounts go through probate. Her son Daniel is named successor trustee, but he has nothing to manage. You may have the same gap in your own papers today. A signature does not close it, because each asset needs its own step at its own office. One asset, one route This book sorts everything you own into one of three routes. You retitle the asset to the trust, or you name the right beneficiary on a form. The third route is a pour-over will, which works as a backup. Then you take each asset to the office that keeps its record. You learn who to see, what to bring, and what to ask for. Papers and numbers come first Before you visit any office, you read your trust for the facts that offices ask about. You list what you own and gather one set of papers to bring everywhere. The book explains the certification of trust, a short paper most offices accept instead of the whole trust. It also tells you which taxpayer number to give a bank. What you get 14 chapters in the order you do the work Steps for bank accounts, brokerage accounts, deeds, vehicles, and business interests Beneficiary forms for retirement accounts and life insurance that match your trust A pour-over will chapter, plus a yearly checkup and a life events table A five step reply for the day an office says no A ninety day plan for the successor trustee Special situations, from co-trustees to a second home to a minor beneficiary A chapter on finding the asset you missed 20 tools and completed samples, from worksheets to funding cards One guide each for California, Texas, Florida, New York, Illinois, and Arizona Four households, real numbers The Park, Fischer, Torres, and Haddad households carry the examples. Helen retitles her savings and records a deed in Illinois. The Fischers move a rental company into their trust in Florida. Maria Torres works through her deed in California. Samir Haddad handles a truck and a business in Texas. You see every step done, with the forms and amounts filled in. The text names its sources, including federal agencies and state codes. The back of the book lists them, so you can check any rule. Keep the trust current Funding is not a one time job to finish and forget. You buy or sell a home, refinance, or move to another state, and the funding can slip. A yearly checkup and a table of life events show which steps each change triggers. Doubts, answered You may think the book will be too technical. Each term is defined in plain words where it first appears, and again in the glossary. You may fear that the rules will change too soon. Every rule points to its source and to the office that applies it. You may feel you have no time for this work. Skip to the chapter for one asset and work down its checklist. Know the limits This is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Every person and account in the examples is invented. Where the book has no rule for your state, it says so and names who to ask. Appendix B gives a method for any state beyond the six. Fill the gap this week Pick up your latest statement and your deed. Read the owner name printed on each one. Now open this book and start moving assets into the living trust you already made.

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