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. (The exceptions include assets which (a) are held jointly with another person with rights of survivorship, for example a home, (b) pass pursuant to "transfer-on-death" or "pay-on-death" designations, for example bank accounts, or (c) pass by beneficiary designation, for example retirement plans and life insurance.) Assets should be transferred from the grantor to the trust to achieve the result that the property is then legally owned by the trust. Then, upon the grantor's death, because the trust (as owner) survives the grantor's death, it is not necessary to use the probate system to effectuate a transfer of the assets to the grantor's beneficiaries. Instead, the (successor) trustee can distribute the assets in accordance with the trust provisions. Assets can be transferred to the living trust both at the time of the creation of the trust and also at later times. Separate transfer documents must be used for this purpose because the trust document itself does not contain any language of conveyance or any list of assets. This worksheet provides a convenient method to list all assets owned by the grantor. With each category of assets, explanatory information is provided with which to decide whether and how to transfer the asset into the living trust. For easy reference, that same information will be printed on the worksheet with each asset category. Further, each asset can be tagged to automatically be included on (a) a bill of transfer document, or (b) a trust property schedule. These documents can then be printed and used for their intended purposes. They can also be saved and updated periodically as appropriate. |