WHAT HAPPENS AFTER YOUR ESTATE PLAN IS SIGNED

SAFEGUARDING DOCUMENTS

1. Scanned documents:   You or we will scan an original of each document.    Medical items are emailed to your doctors and you can email all items to any others you want.
2. Safe Deposit Box or home secure safe: You will put one complete set of all in the same place you put all other important documents, and will have at least one other complete set at home, all signed in the original.

TRANSFERRING ASSETS INTO ONE TRUST

In General.   You transfer ownership of all assets that have your name on them to the same name as the trust.

1. Automobiles and Other Titled Vehicles. You do this at any Motor Vehicle License Office.  For a trust in the same name as yours, and for vehicles less than 10 years old, an inspection is not required.
2. Real Estate –transferred by a Quit Claim Deed we prepare and have recorded. 
3. Bank and Investment Accounts. You take a copy the Trust to your Bank and investment advisor. They easily have you sign all the documents they need. You don=t have to change the name on your checks to the name of the Trust until you order more. The tax I.D. number remains the same as your.
4. Life Insurance. You hange the ownership and the beneficiary to the Trust except for group policies. There you only change the beneficiary.
5. IRA’s and Pension Plans. Except for Roth IRA=s, these are not transferred to the trust as the primary beneficiary, and the beneficiary remains a surviving spouse. Then the contingent beneficiaries are either children or the Trust depending upon circumstances.
6. Income tax changes: None. Your own social security number is still used.
7. Insurance:   All property/car insurance is changed so the Trust is the Ainsured.@
8. Credit cards and credit accounts. These are debts and not assets. They are not transferred to the name of the trust and the debt is not assumed by the trust. Creditors can still pursue your debts against a revocable trust but not without a court fight and the Trust and Trustees are not obligated to pay them without a court fight. This happens maybe one in a hundred times.

Creditors can not pursue individual debt claims against an IRREVOCABLE Trust except within four years after assets are transferred to it, and in some cases, five years.

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Use of this Web Site and review of this Article does not create an attorney-client relationship.   The law and its application by the courts is constantly evolving and changing.  As with all memoranda in these archives, the discussion of the law is for general informational purposes, is in general summary form, is not to be taken as a definitive guide, and should not be relied upon to determine all fact situations.    Each set of facts must be examined separately with the current case and statutory law analyzed and applied accordingly.