How to Keep Your Trust Updated, Part 1
Your trust is supposed to operate to own or be the beneficiary of assets for you while you are alive. It is meant to act during your incapacity and at death to accomplish what you want to have happen at those times. If you’re not in command, your trust should keep your affairs humming like you intended. If it doesn’t do these things, then it’s not healthy. These are just some symptoms of an unhealthy trust.
Being signed 20 or more years ago is a virtual death knell.
Just the passage of such a long time suggests, there are very likely to be aspects to the trust’s present status that are counter to your current wishes and so out of date as to be seriously wrong. The same goes for being signed 10 or more years ago. There are very likely to be laws and circumstances that should be responded to make match up with your current goals.
An “unfunded” trust is a huge red flag.
In most cases if there are no assets titled in the name of the trust or it is not a beneficiary of certain asses like life insurance, then it is currently useless. Could it be useful later, like at death? Possibly. It’s better to be funded however.
Not having successor trustees lined up will cause trouble.
If you – or you and your spouse – are the only trustee(s), then you will run into major problems, unless there is a mechanism for another trustee to be put into office. Likewise, there needs to be a mechanism for the appointment of successor trustees. Frequently this isn’t the case.
Not having reviewed the trustees recently can benefit the wrong people.
They’re no longer good choices due to age or being out of touch with you and your family.
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