Put the Fun back into Funding
WHO: YOU! (Me? Yes you!)

WHAT: Title non-qualified brokerage accounts & valuable bank accounts to your Trust.

WHEN: As soon as your estate plan is completed.

WHERE: Look at a statement from the financial institutions where you hold your investments & cash savings. How are they titled? If you don’t see your trust name on the statement, contact the financial institution to make sure the account is titled in your Trust name, with you as Trustee. This single act will save your estate thousands of dollars!.

WHY?: Because otherwise your trust & estate assets may go through the probate court gauntlet before they reach your beneficiaries.

HOW?: Contact your financial advisor, if you have one. If you do not, contact the financial institutions where you have accounts. Take your Trust & Certificate of Trust to the institution to assure the account lists your trust as an owner with you as Trustee.

TIP: Go to the last pages of your Trust to the “Schedule.” Make sure it is current; use it as a check-list to double-check what you own and how it is titled. If you have bought new real property since you signed your trust, or re-financed, look at your real property deed and make sure it lists your trust as an owner, with you as Trustee.

BONUS POINT Make sure “qualified accounts,” i.e., retirement accounts such as IRAs, have a beneficiary and contingent beneficiary listed.

WHEN: As soon as your estate plan is completed.

Ochi Law does not provide financial advice but if you have any questions at all about how your assets should be handled to avoid probate, contact us at amy@ochilaw.com or call 916-960-2202.