Trust funding includes protecting your home. Let’s start by explaining “what is a trust.” We have a few other resources here to explain that, also. We’ll put a link at the bottom of this article for you with those resources. But a short way to think of a trust is like a beautiful wooden box that you put things in to keep them safe for you and for someone else. Like a jewelry box or hope chest.
Your trust needs the things to be INSIDE it to keep those things safe. Your home needs to be in your trust to be kept safe. Let’s dig deeper.
Your home is typically a large purchase. Some say the largest purchase and investment you will ever make. It is part of the dream, home ownership. It should be protected. What are you protecting when we keep saying this? You are protecting the equity (or appreciated value) of your home, you are protecting the property itself, you are protecting a part of your estate. And maybe an “estate” is something you think of when you think of English country manor houses, your estate is a real thing for you, also.
When you have a living trust, it is typical to fund your house into your trust. In Georgia, we typically fund the home into the revocable living trust on the day the trust is signed. We do it at one time. You can fund the home later, though, in instances when you do not own a home yet or you purchase a different home after you sign your trust.
The way to fund a trust with real estate (real property) is through a deed that is filed with the clerk in the county in which the home sits.
So you would sign a deed from yourself (or if you are married and jointly owning the property both spouses would sign it) in the personal name and you would grant the home (give it) to you (or you both) as trustees of your trust. So it may look something like this:
Amy Refeca (as Grantor) signs the new deed and in the deed the Grantor grants (gives, sells, conveys) the property to the Grantor (the Grantor is Amy Refeca, as Trustee of the Amy Refeca Living Trust). So I personally give myself, the Trustee of my trust, the property. It sounds strange. I am used to hearing this, but I can still appreciate the strangeness of it all. But that is the bottom line of moving a home into a trust.
There are a lot of important things to do in addition to just the deed. Those things will vary depending on your circumstances, the county where the property is and more. That is why it is important to work with an experienced attorney who knows how to fund a piece of real estate into the trust so that all of your goals and unique circumstances are taken into consideration.
But taking this step is VITAL to protecting the house!
This article isn’t intended to give you specific legal advise. It is always important to seek the advise of an attorney in your community about your unique questions, assets and circumstances.