.png)
If you're like many homeowners, your home is likely your family’s most valuable and cherished asset. In light of this, you want to make sure you plan wisely to ensure your home will pass to your heirs in the most efficient and safe manner possible upon your death or in the event of a serious injury or illness.
Yes, proper legacy planning is as much a part of responsible homeownership as having homeowners insurance or keeping your home’s roof well maintained. When it comes to including your home in your legacy plan, you have a variety of different planning tools to choose from, for various reasons, and putting your home in a trust is usually the smartest choice.
Although you should consult with us, your Ambitious Legacy Planning Attorneys, to identify the best legacy planning strategies for your particular circumstances, in this two-part series we’ll discuss how trusts work (both revocable and irrevocable), and then outline the most common advantages of using a trust to pass your home to your loved ones compared to other planning strategies.
Let's First Start With: What Is A Trust?
In simplest terms, a trust is an agreement between the “Grantor” (the person who puts assets into the trust) and the “Trustee” (the person who agrees to hold those assets) to hold title to assets for the benefit of the “Beneficiary.” Now, when the trust is a Revocable Living Trust, this agreement is typically made between YOU as the Grantor, and YOU as the Trustee, for the benefit of YOU as the beneficiary.
That sounds weird, right? Why would you want to make an agreement with yourself, to hold title to assets for yourself, for the benefit of yourself? Well, it’s because by doing so you remove those assets from the jurisdiction of the court in the event you become incapacitated or when you die, and instead, you give the power to transfer those assets to your successor Trustee to handle without government or court intervention and keep it all completely private. This saves your family significant time, money, and headache.
Now, What Are the Different Types of Trusts?
While there are many different types of trusts available, when it comes to passing your home to your heirs, the two most commonly used trusts are a revocable living trust and an irrevocable trust. Let's get into it.
Revocable Living Trust
When using a revocable living trust, or living trust, you are free to change the trust’s terms or even terminate the trust completely at any point while you are living, thus the term “living” trust. You typically act as your own trustee during your lifetime, and then you name someone (and ideally more than one person in succession) as a successor trustee to take over management of the trust when you die or in the event of your incapacity. At that point, your successor trustee will be responsible for managing the assets, and eventually distributing the trust assets to your chosen beneficiaries according to the instructions contained within the trust’s terms. Because you remain in control of the assets held by a living trust, the assets are still considered part of your estate for estate tax purposes, and assets held in a living trust are not protected from your creditors or lawsuits during your lifetime. This is a very important and often misunderstood point.
A revocable living trust does not protect your assets from creditors or lawsuits, and it has no impact on your income taxes. That said, as long as the assets are held by a living trust, they can be protected from your beneficiaries’ creditors, lawsuits, and even a divorce settlement. We'll talk more on this below.
The key benefit of a living trust is to pass your assets (including, and especially your home) without any need for court or government intervention, and to ensure your home (and other assets) pass in the way you want, to the people you want.
Irrevocable Trust
Unlike a revocable living trust, an irrevocable trust is, irrevocable. This means that the terms of the trust cannot be changed, and the trust cannot be terminated once it’s been executed. When you transfer assets into an irrevocable trust, you let go of all ownership of the assets, and the trustee you have named takes total control of the assets transferred into the name of the trust. Because you no longer own the assets held by the trust, those assets are no longer considered part of your estate, and they typically won’t be subject to estate taxes upon your death, and they eventually will not be vulnerable to creditors or lawsuits, as long as the trust is properly constructed.
Although avoiding estate taxes and gaining protection from creditors and lawsuits may sound like a huge benefit, irrevocable trusts come with some serious restrictions and can be kind of complex to set up. Because you no longer own the assets held in an irrevocable trust and generally cannot change the trust terms or terminate the trust once it’s been executed, putting your home in this type of trust should only be done with very clear and specific legal guidance by an attorney who specializes in asset protection, like us.
In light of these factors, if you are looking to set up an irrevocable trust in order to qualify for Medicaid, lower your estate tax liability, or for some other reason, meet with us to discuss your options.
Putting Your Home Into A Trust
In order for a trust to function, it’s not enough to just list the assets you want the trust to cover. When you create your trust, you'll need to also transfer the legal title of your home and any other assets you want held by the trust from your name into the name of the trust. The retitling of your assets in this way is known as “funding” your trust.
Funding your trust properly is extremely important because if an asset, such as your home, hasn’t been properly funded to the trust, the trust won’t work, and your family will have to go to court in order to take over ownership of the property. So, it’s critical to work with us, your Ambitious Legacy Planning Attorneys to ensure your trust works as you intended to.
Although there are many attorneys that will create a trust for you, there are few who will actually ensure your assets are properly funded. As your Ambitious Legacy Planning Attorneys, we will not only make sure your home and other assets are properly titled when you initially create your trust, but we will also ensure that any new assets you acquire over the course of your life are inventoried and properly funded to your trust. This will keep your assets from being lost, as well as prevent your family from being inadvertently forced into court because your plan was never fully completed.
This article is a service of The Ambitious Legacy Firm. We do not just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. That's why we offer a Legacy Planning Session, during which you will get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before and make all the best choices for the people you love. You can begin by using the link below to schedule a call with our Client Services Director, who will be able to guide you on scheduling your Legacy Planning Session, or by emailing us at legacy@franco-lawfirm.com. Mention this article when you reach out to us to find out how to get this $750 session at no charge.
WE CARE ABOUT YOUR LEGACY. LET US HELP YOU PLAN IT!
Copyright (C) 2022 The Ambitious Legacy Firm. All rights reserved.