Funding Your Living Trust

If you have a revocable living trust, it is crucial that you understand the importance of trust funding in order to avoid the unintentional expense of probate.

As you may know, one of the benefits of having a living trust is to avoid probate. But having a signed living trust does nothing for you unless you fund your trust. If your trust funding is incomplete, your estate plan may not work out the way you want it to.

What is Trust Funding?

Although the trust funding process isn’t difficult, some people never get around to doing it. Part of the problem might have to do with the words “trust funding.” I think some people get the idea that they have to set up a trust account somewhere, such as a bank, and then put money into it.

Trust funding is really pretty easy to understand. First of all, your attorney or financial advisor should have explained the trust funding process to you. Your attorney may have drafted a good living trust but the process of signing your revocable living trust does nothing unless your trust is funded.

Trust funding is simply the process of transferring or re-titling your assets in the name of your trust.

That’s all there is to it.