Your Living Trust is considered funded when you actually transfer either part or all of your assets into the Trust and change the title document of your property or assets to the name of the Trust. Specific types of assets have procedures which must be followed. Talk to an estate attorney for more information if you have questions about how to do this properly.

If you choose not to fund your Trust until after your death, your assets may not be protected from probate, unless they are automatically transferred at the time of death or through a specific beneficiary designation. What happens to the property that has not been properly re-titled into the name of the Trust? It will have to be probated after your death.

Assets which can be transferred into the Trust can include:

• Cash accounts, savings accounts, certificates of deposits, and money market accounts.
• Brokerage accounts and non-retirement accounts.
• Nonqualified annuities.
• Stocks and bonds held in certificate form.
• Stocks held in a general and limited partnership, corporation, or limited liability company (LLC). There may be specific procedures which need to be reviewed and followed when dealing with ownership of a private business.
• Life insurance.
• Oil and gas and other mineral rights.
• Real Estate.
• Copyrights, patents, and trademarks.
• Personal property – this can include personal belongings such as books, computers, clothing, furniture, artwork, etc.
• Secured and unsecured loans which are owed to you.

The cost to create a Living Trust will vary depending on whether you have decided to do it yourself or hire an estate lawyer. If you do it yourself you can pay as little as $100 for resource materials and the online software. Hiring an estate attorney could cost anywhere from $1,500 to $4,500 depending on the complexity of your estate. 

WARNING: Trust law is very complex and violations or non-compliance with state law could invalidate your Trust. This means that any transfers of property to the Trust, or from the Trust to other people, would not be valid. That property would then have to go through the probate process – which could cost thousands of dollars and take as long as a year. It is usually worth spending more money up front to make sure things are done right.

Whether or not you will need legal assistance to create a Living Trust will depend on the complexity of your estate. Do some basic research. If you have a simple estate and limited assets, devoting a few hours to educate yourself on the process may save you a lot of money.

If you have a complicated estate and want the assurance that the Living Trust is valid, or if you do not have the time or energy to research how to preserve your estate, an estate attorney can help. Estate lawyers can review your estate and outline a Living Trust which will meet your specific needs. They also understand how changes in your state’s laws may affect your estate planning.

I recently had a client who wanted to create his own Trust. He bought a book on Amazon with a basic Trust template. However, he quickly realized that he didn’t understand the legal terms and concepts that were being discussed. He spent roughly 30 hours reading various books and websites and trying to understand his options. When he eventually came to me he was very frustrated. After a full discussion of his property, his estate planning goals, and his family, I was able to create a Trust specifically tailored to his unique situation. Two weeks later he had his Trust fully set up and funded and he could now relax knowing his family would be taken care of.