As someone looking into estate planning, you might have noticed how there’s generally more to this process than just drafting your will. There are plenty of other legal documents or instruments that form part of the estate planning process. Trusts are one of them.
While many types of trusts exist, one popular type is a living one. Many individuals mistakingly believe that only individuals with substantial means warrant funding trusts. That’s simply not the case: Anyone can fund a trust.
How might you fund your living trust?
You have the flexibility to take just about any valuable item you own and fund the trust with it. This includes:
- Mineral rights
- Intellectual property rights
- Motor vehicles
- Digital assets
- Broker or bank accounts
- Real estate, including your home
Since you remain in control of any assets you fund the revocable living trust with, you can perform any transactions that you typically would up until your death, such as purchasing or selling off a car or real estate. You’ll just need to ensure that you do so in the trust’s name as opposed to yours.
The trustee that you appoint to administer your trust will only assume their role once you die. Their primary responsibility will be to ensure that your beneficiaries and heirs receive the assets as you intended.
Why might you want to set up a living trust?
One detail about estate planning that tends to keep individuals up at night is worrying about the probate process. They worry about how long it will take and if their loved ones might ultimately inherit what they intended. You can protect your loved ones’ privacy and help speed along the eventual settlement of your estate by learning more about then funding a living trust now.