Funding a Revocable Living Trust

While the term “funding” seems to apply more to bank bailouts and wars, it also applies to making sure all of your assets are set up to properly work with your revocable living trust. One of the prime selling points of revocable living trusts is that all assets for both partners (or any other couple) avoid the costly and time-consuming probate court process. But in order for a revocable living trust to avoid probate, all land, accounts, and other assets are either owned directly by the trust or have the “transfer upon death” or “pay upon death” designations list the trust as a beneficiary. Not all assets are handled the same way, but they must be handled properly.