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malloryg8r Asked April 2015

Does a revocable trust automatically cover all assets?

My parents set up a revocable trust years ago. It has been revised along the way to include/exclude all 5 kids in and out of.divorces /custody disputes, and now with dad gone, is just my mom, and the heirs are the 5 kids. Her home and majority of her accounts are listed as her name followed by Her Trust. However she has 3 smaller accounts which are not titled that way at all. One is her everyday checking account which has her, and me as joint owner. The other has 3 kids as POD. And a small life insurance policy she has going to her favorite charity. My sister claims that mom must change each and every account to be titled in the Trust. I am the DPOA so I cannot be telling my mom how to title her accounts. I must abide by mom's wishes. But does her Trust automatically overrule her individual JTWROS, or POD, or beneficiary designations? Does it matter what date the Trust was drawn up, versus what date the "other" designations were made? I am not interested in asking the lawyer, they are far too expensive. Just want to have all mom's ducks in a row, according to her wishes (and not mine nor sister's ).

eguillot Apr 2015
If it is not titled in the trust, it is handled the way it is titled. If you believe you sister is going to argue, video your mothers wishes.

malloryg8r Apr 2015
My mom says she wants me to use joint checking to pay for cleaning / painting her house for sale, and anything left over is for me, since I'm the only kid that has done anything for her, for about 30 yys. She wants the charity to have the small insurance policy, and changed that beneficiary as her own decision, after the last Trust revision, but my sister found out about the change is going crying to mom "you can't do that--everything has to be divided only to the 5 kids!" Which is not.what mom wants. And anyhow, me as DPOA cannot change beneficiaries, nor can I change or otherwise re-interpret the terms in her Will or Trust. So even though it looks to sister that I am putting myself or the charity, or 3 kids, ahead of her, I am only carrying out what mom wants. Maybe I need the Will & Trust to be totally explicit, have her expensive lawyer insert language saying that these 3 little assets are to be handled differently. But even that gives me pause since I would have to.drive my mom.to their office , I don't want to give any appearance that I was telling mom what to do. I only want to.carry out mom's wishes, and the interpretation I get from her specific names attached to these accounts, is indication that she wanted only these people to receive those assets--not to be divided among her 5 kids.

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geewiz Apr 2015
Trusts only cover what is owned (and titled) in the trust. But many individuals leave some small assets out of the trust. When your Mom passes, you will need money to pay immediate bills. Is your mom competent to make her own decisions? Ask her what her plan was. By any chance, is your sister the one that is not mentioned in any of the accounts?

thezookeeper Apr 2015
PS - That should be her name "as trustee for the xxxx trust" on the first line, I believe, with the trust name inserted using the exact title of the trust, including all punctuation in exactly the right places. No trust assets should have her name listed alone, without the "trustee for the xxx trust" as part of it. Otherwise, it could be claimed that the trust doesn't fully own the asset. Gotta be real careful - you never know when this might bite you.

thezookeeper Apr 2015
All accounts and/or assets that are to be included in the trust must be titled exactly as the trust requires, or it's not part of the trust. Title documents must be precise, so all real-estate related assets absolutely need to titled correctly. Get the bank accounts changed, that's your job as POA, if the POA has been sprung, you're in charge now. Keep in mind that nothing is in the trust, until it's transferred to it. For bank accounts, that's changing the owner's name or title.

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