Your house may not only hold great monetary value, but also great sentimental value to you and your loved ones. With this, you may want to keep this property within your family when the time comes that you, sadly, pass away. You must disclose these clear instructions within your Last Will and Testament. However, you may feel more secure leaving this property to your desired beneficiary in a trust. Continue reading to learn whether you can place your house in a trust and how an experienced Putnam County trusts attorney at the Law Office of Andres D. Gil, PLLC can help you incorporate the best culmination of your assets into it.
Am I allowed to place my house in a trust?
Not only are you allowed to place your house in a trust, but it may be wise for you to do so. This is because your house may be the largest asset you have in your possession. So, you do not want federal and state estate taxes heavily imposed on it. Overall, you do not want it to land in the wrong hands in the event of your unfortunate passing. In addition, you may have more than one real estate property in your possession, some of which may reside out of state or in a different country. In this case, you do not want your beneficiaries to undergo the lengthy, costly, and complicated process of separate probate proceedings.
It is worth mentioning that there may be extra steps if you still have a mortgage on your house. Without further ado, the steps for setting up a real estate trust are as follows:
- Appoint another entity, another individual, or yourself to serve as the trustee of your trust.
- Write your desired terms and conditions for your trust agreement and then provide your signature.
- Sign a deed that discloses the appointed trustee of your trust, who is now the new owner of your house.
- Send this signed deed to your county recorder’s office, which must be supplemented with its required fee.
What other assets am I allowed to place in a trust?
Aside from your house, you may own other high-value assets. Again, you do not want these to be hit with high federal and state estate taxes. So, if you own any of the following assets, you may want to consider placing them in a trust:
- Your life insurance.
- Your motor vehicles.
- Your financial accounts (i.e., stocks, bonds, safe deposits, etc).
- Your high-value personal property (i.e., jewelry, art, furniture, etc).
There is no better time to act than now. So please reach out to a skilled Putnam County estate planning attorney from the Law Office of Andres D. Gil, PLLC at your earliest possible convenience.