How Do I Make Sure All My Assets (Real Estate, Bank Accounts, Investments) Are Properly Transferred into the Trust?
Video Summary
How do I make sure all my assets, real estate, bank accounts, investments are properly transferred into the trust? It’s a common mistake to not fund the trust are improperly fund a trust by simply referring to the trust document as the Roland d Waller Trust dated July the fourth, 2025, and that that’s not the way you titled the assets. You need to title ’em in the name of the trustee, such as Roland D Waller as the trustee of the Roland d Waller Trust dated July the fourth, 2025. And that is for bank accounts and for real estate as how you need to title those assets. And the big thing is to make sure that you know all the assets that you have so that we can properly have them transferred or give you direction on what to do and keeping track of it. Sometimes there’s a problem whenever you’re dealing with a certificate’s deposit that mature well, then you wind up not continuing with it or the maintenance is showing that they are for your name as trustee under your trust rather than putting them in your individual name. So, it’s a question of, first off is identifying all your assets and then working at having them titled in the name of your trustee, which is usually yourself as far as your revocable trust is concerned, and identifying you as the trustee, trustee, and then your trust and the date. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
How Are Taxes Handled with Trusts Will My Beneficiaries Owe Taxes When They Inherit?
Video Summary
How are taxes handled with trust? Will my beneficiary owe taxes when they inherit? First, you need to determine whether you have sufficient assets to be taxed by the federal government. The State of Florida has done away with their estate tax law or estate tax. The federal government has raised the estate tax exemption to a little under $14 million. So if you have assets of less than $14 million, there is no tax federal estate tax. If you have real estate outside the state of Florida, that state may tax your estate upon your death as far as the benefits under your beneficiaries receive the dated death value of your assets, so it limits their tax liability. An example of that is if I purchased a piece of real estate for $200,000 during my lifetime, say in 2000, and then I die in 2025 and the property is worth twice that much or $400,000, well, if my beneficiary sell the property for $400,000, there’s no tax since their basis or step up in basis is $400,000. If they sell it for more than what the date of death value is, they only must pay long-term capital gains. So that’s a huge income tax benefit for inheriting property rather than receiving it during the party’s lifetime. So, if you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
How Do I Choose a Reliable Executor, and What Responsibilities Will They Have?
Video Summary
How do I choose a reliable executor and what responsibilities will they have? Well, you need to pick someone who is trustworthy, that you trust, and that you believe will treat all the beneficiaries fairly and knows enough to contact an attorney to get some guidance as far as handling the probate of your estate and handling your affairs as far as what their responsibilities are, as they need to petition the court to be appointed. And once they’re appointed, then a lawyer acts on their behalf, but they have a responsibility for filing a notice of administration to the various beneficiaries of the estate and also sends a notice to creditors giving the notice, giving them notice to file their claims in the estate. Moreover, they have the responsibility to send that notice to any reasonably ascertainable creditor so that the creditors can file their claims and the claim period runs about three months after.
They also have to file an inventory in 60 days, and they need to marshal the assets, meaning they need to collect the assets. I usually have them set up an estate account so that all the money goes into one account, so that whenever we have all the assets in and we file the inventory, we can then have an accounting to show what the expenses are and how much money is available to pay creditors and how much is available for the beneficiaries, which we then, if there’s enough money to pay the creditors, we pay the creditors. And then the balance, the money is distributed to the beneficiaries, but they’re entitled to accounting and to object to it or not. So that’s in a nutshell what the responsibilities are of an executor in Florida. The executor needs to be one of the following, either related by blood or in the alternative, a resident in the state of Florida, one of the two. So, if you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Trusts, Videos, Wills
When Should I Update My Will, Trust, Or Other Estate Planning Documents?
Video Summary
When should I update my Will, Trust or other estate planning documents? You should update those when there’s a change in circumstances. Some of the circumstances would be in the event that you have more grandchildren or you have a problem with the death of one of the beneficiaries, a death of a child, the circumstance of one of the beneficiary changes, such as if they have a dependency problem or you need to set up a special needs trust for them or the circumstances of the beneficiary. Also, if you relocate to another state, well, you will want to have the Trust reviewed to see if it complies with the Florida law and have it controlled by the state where you are now residing. One of the big things that you need to look at your Trust is when it was set up, what the tax laws were. Many of the older Trusts have a provision to try and take advantage of the unified tax credit so that they split it up into two Trusts, a marital Trust and a credit shelter Trust. Well, now they’ve raised the estate tax limitations of approximately $14 million, which eliminates the problem of having to have two Trusts to take advantage of the credit shelter, and it can have some ramifications as far as how the credit shelter is dispersed to the spouse. So, these are some of the reasons why you want to look at your will or trust because of the change in circumstances if you lose a spouse, would be another one. Death of beneficiaries. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
If I Set Up a Trust, How Do I Fund It Properly?
Video Summary
If I set up a Trust, how do I fund it properly? You need to retitle your accounts or assets in the name of the trustee of your trust. Usually it’s your revocable trust, such as Roland d Waller as trustee of the Roland d Waller revocable trust dated July 4th, 2025. So, all the assets need to be titled in the name of the trustee of the trust, not just the name of the Trust. Since that is just a document, the trustee is bound by the provisions of the Trust, so it’s fairly easy to go to your banks and sign a new signature card and move your, or change the account, or move the accounts into the name of your name As trustee with real estate, you need to have deeds prepared to transfer the real estate into your trust. As far as LLCs, you need to change the membership interest to your Trust and with stock you need to make that transfer on death. So, these, it’s important that you retitle your assets and the name of the trustee of your Trust. If you have any questions about this, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.