Over my career as a financial advisor I have met with over 300 wealthy families to discuss their estate and retirement plan. About 80% of the time, assets that should be in a trust, are not in the trust. Trust funding is one of the most common estate planning mistakes; people simply do not fund their trust.
If you don’t fund your trust, then assets you own that do not have designated beneficiaries will ultimately go through probate. Avoiding probate is easy, just fund your trust!
The quickest way to determine if an asset like a brokerage account or bank account is titled to your trust is to simply look at the address line of your statement.
If the address line of your brokerage statement only has your name or you and your spouse’s name, odds are high that your trust has not been funded. Unless the address line of your brokerage statement specifically references your trust, names you as a trustee and lists the date of creation of your trust, your trust has not been funded.
Ethan S. Braid, CFA
President
HighPass Asset Management