The Living Trust Advisor

CHAPTER 7 Functions of Your Living Trust While Both You and Your Spouse Are Alive Or, Don’t Quite Forget about Your Living Trust After You Have Thrown It into Your Safe-Deposit Box

If you are like most people, you do not want to become vested in any high-maintenance endeavor that takes you away from the true passions of your life (e.g., family, athletics, etc.). So it probably comes as welcome news when I tell you that after you establish and fund your Living Trust, there is nothing more you have to do with it. Put it in your bookcase, desk, or safe-deposit box, and allow it to collect dust.

This is a bit of a lie . . . but not much of one. I stretched the truth (insert your own lawyer joke here) to make the point that there is almost nothing more you need to do with your Living Trust after you have signed it and transferred assets to it.

As I have said previously throughout this book, you are the Living Trust . . . the Living Trust is you. You get all income and principal of the Living Trust assets, you are the manager of the Living Trust assets, and you are the owner of the Living Trust assets. You have the power to wheel and deal with the Living Trust assets in any way you see fit. You don’t need to whip out your Living Trust to look up any instructions on how to conduct your normal everyday financial activities. You just do them.

However, please note the word almost, which immediately precedes the word nothing in the second paragraph of this chapter. Certainly, you do not ...