Is a Living Trust More Trouble Than It's Worth?

by Jim H.
(Arkansas)

Great article above about whether a revocable living trust is so difficult to fund that it's often not worth doing. I agree with the author. We have one and it has been a pain in the rear! The problem is that funding the trust -- transferring assets into it -- is more difficult than you think.

It seems simple enough. Problem is that all the different institutions holding the assets (i.e. banks, mutual funds, real estate title, etc) -- they all have different rules and requirements for how you change the title from your name to the name of the trust.

And even after you do that, as the article you have above mentions -- other problems arise. Like, say you have a CD and you manage to move it into your trust. Now, when it matures, the money has to go into a bank account also owned by the trust. So, if you don't have one, you have to open one.

Because we have over $2,000,000 in assets, I guess it's probably worth it, but, it has been a pain. Personally, I wouldn't fool with it if my assets were worth any less.

By the way, you have a nice article about funding the living trust at Funding A Living Trust.