Signing a revocable trust is the beginning of the process, not the end. Plenty of Jacksonville residents complete their trust documents and walk away thinking the hard part is done. It isn’t. Until you actually transfer assets into the trust, the document sits idle.
Funding a trust means changing the legal ownership of your assets from your individual name to the name of your trust. If your trust is named “The Jane Smith Revocable Trust,” your bank account, investment account, or real property needs to be retitled to reflect that. An unfunded trust has no assets to manage or distribute, which means it provides none of the probate-avoidance benefits you created it for in the first place.
Different asset types require different steps. Real estate is the most involved. To transfer Florida property into your trust, the property is usually conveyed by a new deed, often from you individually to yourself as trustee. That deed then must be recorded with the county clerk where the property is located.
Homestead property requires extra care. Florida’s constitutional homestead protections can be preserved when property is held in a revocable trust, but the deed and trust language both need to be correct. If the trust and deed are not set up correctly, homestead protection issues can come up.
For bank and brokerage accounts, the exact process depends on the institution. Some allow full retitling, while others may use beneficiary designations to coordinate with the trust. Retirement accounts, such as IRAs and 401(k)s, are handled differently. Retitling them into the trust during your lifetime can trigger immediate tax consequences, so the standard approach is to name the trust as beneficiary instead.
A pour-over will should accompany every funded trust. It acts as a backstop, directing any assets left outside the trust at your death to be transferred in through a limited probate proceeding.
Our firm helps Jacksonville clients do more than sign documents. We handle the deed preparation, account retitling guidance, and beneficiary designation review that actually make a revocable trust work. Call Schnauss Naugle Law at 904-643-6342 or reach us through our online contact form to get started.
