All of dad's assets are in a trust. How do I get a valuation on gold and silver to liquidate and put in a trust?

For real? Kitco.com

jjariz, yeah for real. More than just gold and silver. As POA and trustee I have to make certain I don't make any mistakes for which I can be held criminally liable.

How old is ur Dad? When was the trust set up? Could he need Medicaid in the next five years? If yes to the Medicaid question then this maybe a problem. It may be construed as hiding assets. Jariz's response maybe coming from that a lot of people lose all they worked for when they finally can go on Medicaid. Even if they r allowed a house, once in spend down no money can be spent on it from the person's personal income. And then their are people who set up a trust that Medicaid can't use as income but there is plenty of money for their care...I know, it's legal. You may want to consult a lawyer. Liquidating could mean lots of taxes.

Joann29. Maybe you're right.(attorney) I thought I posted this under "elder law", idk. Just so overwhelmed dealing with all his affairs and rapidly declining health. Just put him in hospice. Not thinking as clearly as usual.

Many thanks to you and jjariz for responding.

Sorry for being so glib. It does sound like you need to see an attorney if there an enough assets to worry about.
Blessings,
Jamie

I'm going to take a different approach. Is it necessary to liquidate the gold and silver to fund into the trust? I've never bought those kind of assets, so I'm just wondering, but you might want to find out. I also don't follow markets for them, so I don't know whether they're moving up or down in value.

But think of it this way - vehicles, boats, stocks, mutual and real property don't have to be liquidated to be funded into a trust. Title is transferred from the individual owner to the Trust.

Couldn't this be done for the gold and silver assets as well? And perhaps they might increase in value before the trust becomes irrevocable on death.

What documentation do you have evidencing the gold and silver? There's probably something evidencing them. You might want to check with the dealer from whom they were purchased about the movement upward or downward of their prices to determine if you'll maximize their value by converting to cash now.

But I definitely would speak to an estate planner with some background in mineral assets to determine if you couldn't just transfer ownership to the (and fund them into the trust) w/o liquidating them.

These comments don't address any potential Medicaid issues, just the specific gold and silver assets and funding into the Trust.

Jelly - so is it legit bullion or mining shares? As in coins (krugerrand or maple leafs) or certified numismatic; mining like VanEck. Either would involve a registered broker who would be the one to validate & do buy-back. Most broker dealers are PNG and there should be a PNG contact name on paperwork. One of the biggest most established ones is in my city & even though I know where they are, etc., I still need to go through a registered PNG broker to do anything.

Sadly there’s a lot of scams marketed to seniors on gold & silver. Not meaning to be snarky, but could dad have bought into one of these? If so, their basically worthless. There was a great article on this from AARP September 2016 especially on the Merit gold & silver investment fraud.

Garden artist. The trust is already irrevocable. (Required for application to VA). These are the last of his assets and I thought of waiting to see if the market changes so he doesn't lose on his investment. With the downward turn in health I've been thinking I should do something before years end for tax purposes. Then I can execute his will after taxes are filed and paid for 2017.

Igloo572. Yes krugerrand and silver eagle. I only found a few receipts for these but are from reputable companies. Thank you for the info. I will check and see. What you've mentioned is most likely the route I'll need to take. Thank you