Question: A few years ago, my husband and I established a revocable living trust. Though I distinctly remember signing the documents for the revocable living trust, I do not recall signing any other documents. My husband died recently, and last week I began reviewing all of our legal paperwork, including the revocable living trust.
The revocable living trust lists our home, our cabin in Greer and shares of IBM stock on the schedule of assets. However, when I talked to our accountant, he said that we had never formally transferred those assets into the revocable living trust and that these assets were not part of it. Is that right?
Answer: Yes. The transfer of any real property, such as your home and the Greer cabin, and the transfer of securities, such as the shares of IBM stock, requires formal documentation. Even though you and your husband may have intended to transfer your assets into the revocable living trust, you did not execute the deeds for the home and cabin to the revocable living trust, and you did not transfer the shares of IBM stock into the revocable living trust. Therefore, there are no assets in the revocable living trust.
Although all assets should have some type of formal documentation, some personal-property assets can be transferred to the revocable living trust simply by listing those assets on the schedule of assets. For example, even if there is no formal bill of sale, the listing of a specific piece of jewelry or specific household furnishings on a schedule of assets should be sufficient to transfer the title to those assets into the revocable living trust. If you have more questions, please contact one of our Arizona estate planning attorneys.