Funding a trust means naming the trust as the death beneficiary or transferring ownership of your assets (like real estate, bank accounts, investments) from your personal name into the name of the trust, making the trust the legal owner; this is crucial for the trust to work as intended, bypassing probate and allowing seamless management if you become incapacitated, because an unfunded trust is just an empty legal document.

We analyze how each of your assets are titled and prepare an asset inventory report confirming what you own and how you own it and then complete all the forms and other documents necessary to initially fund your trust and designate beneficiaries. We transfer the title of your real estate and other property into your trust so that plans work as designed for you, your family, and your loved ones.

Where the client opts not to have us handle trust funding, we provide funding instructions in each trust package to complete on your own.

If you had your estate planning documents drafted by another firm several years ago and you want to understand your current plan and whether it meets your current needs, we can review your existing plan and offer advice whether the plan is still the best fit for you and your family.

Estate plans need to be updated from time to time.  You may want to change your designated guardians, add a new baby or charity to the estate plan, account for an inheritance that may generate an estate tax at your death, make a specific gift to class of beneficiaries, transfer a vacation home to an existing trust, or account for any other life changes that may produce unintended results, such as bypassing a gift to the grandchildren, forgetting to transfer ownership or name a death beneficiary to newly acquired assets that could create the need for a probate at your death.