The bill of transfer is used to transfer personal property to a living trust or joint living trust. In addition to creating and signing a living trust document, assets must be transferred into the trust. A living trust only owns the assets that are actually transferred into the trust. Any assets that remain titled in the name of the grantor will be subject to potential probate administration at the death of the grantor. Assets should be transferred from the grantor to the trust to achieve the result that the property is then legally owned by the trust. Assets can be transferred to the trust both at the time of the creation of the trust and also at later times. Separate transfer documents, such as this bill of transfer, must be used for this purpose because the trust document itself does not contain any language of conveyance or any list of assets. Note: This document cannot be used to transfer real estate or other property which has a title document, such as a vehicle. If the asset consists of a category of items, especially those that may change regularly, for example household goods and personal effects, continuous transfers would be impractical, so the initial transfer should convey that category of assets, "whether now owned or later acquired." |