Mom is the survival Trustee after Dad passed away last year. She plans to sell her house that is in the trust, and use the money to fund her Assisted Living Facility care.
If the house was owned by the Trust, then the $ from the sale of the house is the Trusts $.
Find the paperwork on the house. However it is exactly titled will more than likely be how the check is issued at the Act of Sale or held in escrow. So if it’s “PVO Family Trust” as the owner for tax & land records, the check is going to be made out to “PVO Family Trust”. Be sure to let the a Realtor know it’s owned by a Trust as that might determine which title company they use.
Continued..... So then the $ will be deposited to the Trust account. It won’t need to be signed by her personally, but instead just deposited into the acct with “for deposit only” on it. As long as the info on the face of the check and how the account is all matches up, it should be ok.
if mom resigned as Trustee, is it also is that she also removed herself as a signatory on the Trust account? You imho need to clearly find this out. If so, y’all need to think about how her bills are going to get paid and by whom. If there’s a law firm who is doing Trust administrative, they can do it but it will get expensive & kinda a real PIA to get smallish things paid for. I don’t know if a Trust acct can get a debit card. Talk with the law firm as to just how to set this up now. I assume she’s still totally competent and cognitive to do anything legal, right?
The Trustee would deposit the check. That's the best way, though I am uncertain if the Mom could as well. When my bro sold his home, which was in the trust, we was competent to sign all papers, and he gave the check to me, his Trustee; I deposited into his Trust account. And yes, the money can be used to pay her bills of any kind. It all becomes exceptionally confusing this. My brother and I both signed on some papers in the sale as I had taken over as Trustee of the Trust and yet the home was in his name, his name as Trustee. Papers get signed as they are made out which threw me for a loop, but luckily I did have a Lawyer who could walk me through a few questions, by phone and email. All went smoothly. If the check is made out to your Mom's trust you sign the check as current Trustee of that Trust account. As I said, it all gets so convoluted. Certainly if you have a banker (because my brother's entire holdings at the bank exceeded a certain amount I was assigned a "personal wealth management banker". Doesn't take a whole lot for them to consider you have "wealth". He was also invaluable to me and he still is, as my brother died in May, and his Trust then became irrevocable and I the Executor and Trustee to manage all that. So speak to your banker with questions you have ongoing. NOT the teller. The banker at the desk; ask for an appointment if you ever have questions. Wishing you luck. I finally ran into what I told my partner was the Banker saying "Ask your CPA or Lawyer" and the Lawyer saying "That's a Banker question" and the two saying "That's a CPA question. Eventually you get it ironed out as you go along.
This is confusing. If your mother resigned as trustee, is there a trustee now, or has the trust wound up? If the trust is still current, the chances are that she can deposit money into it, whether or not she is a trustee. If the trust has wound up, a new trust could be made to receive the money. Whether the money in the trust can be spent on her own care depends on the current trustee and the terms of the trust. If the beneficiary of the old or a new trust is not your mother (for example is a child of the marriage), it might not be OK. It sounds like you aren't very clear about this, so probably best to check with the lawyer who prepared it.
Find the paperwork on the house.
However it is exactly titled will more than likely be how the check is issued at the Act of Sale or held in escrow. So if it’s “PVO Family Trust” as the owner for tax & land records, the check is going to be made out to “PVO Family Trust”. Be sure to let the a Realtor know it’s owned by a Trust as that might determine which title company they use.
if mom resigned as Trustee, is it also is that she also removed herself as a signatory on the Trust account?
You imho need to clearly find this out. If so, y’all need to think about how her bills are going to get paid and by whom. If there’s a law firm who is doing Trust administrative, they can do it but it will get expensive & kinda a real PIA to get smallish things paid for. I don’t know if a Trust acct can get a debit card. Talk with the law firm as to just how to set this up now. I assume she’s still totally competent and cognitive to do anything legal, right?
When my bro sold his home, which was in the trust, we was competent to sign all papers, and he gave the check to me, his Trustee; I deposited into his Trust account. And yes, the money can be used to pay her bills of any kind.
It all becomes exceptionally confusing this. My brother and I both signed on some papers in the sale as I had taken over as Trustee of the Trust and yet the home was in his name, his name as Trustee. Papers get signed as they are made out which threw me for a loop, but luckily I did have a Lawyer who could walk me through a few questions, by phone and email. All went smoothly. If the check is made out to your Mom's trust you sign the check as current Trustee of that Trust account. As I said, it all gets so convoluted. Certainly if you have a banker (because my brother's entire holdings at the bank exceeded a certain amount I was assigned a "personal wealth management banker". Doesn't take a whole lot for them to consider you have "wealth". He was also invaluable to me and he still is, as my brother died in May, and his Trust then became irrevocable and I the Executor and Trustee to manage all that. So speak to your banker with questions you have ongoing. NOT the teller. The banker at the desk; ask for an appointment if you ever have questions. Wishing you luck. I finally ran into what I told my partner was the Banker saying "Ask your CPA or Lawyer" and the Lawyer saying "That's a Banker question" and the two saying "That's a CPA question. Eventually you get it ironed out as you go along.