Why It’s a Good Idea to Put Your Home in a Trust

Dave Knight Real Estate Group Podcast

If you’re a homeowner, putting your property in a trust is a wise decision. Typically, there are two reasons people put their home in a trust. The first is for the tax benefits. To that end, it might be a good idea to talk to your accountant about how putting your property in a trust would specifically help you in this standpoint. The second reason is to avoid probate. When someone passes away, if their property is held in their name only and not in a trust or a will, it goes into probate. The challenge with probate is it costs a lot of money and takes up a lot of time. “Letting a home go into probate can cost you a lot of time and money.” If a property is put into a trust, when the trustee passes away, the successor trustee takes over and can then sell the property so all the beneficiaries get their money. It’s almost as clean and simple as a standard sale. In fact, there can be fewer disclosures the seller has to make to the buyer in this type of situation. I have the perfect story to share to demonstrate how trusts can save you a lot of headaches. A friend of mine who I’d grown up with back in Illinois called me one day telling me that because his parents were getting very old, he wanted to look into eventually selling their property in Pasadena. After doing some investigation, I found out that his parents’ property was actually in their names. That means if they would’ve passed away before he called me, the house would’ve gone to probate. Thankfully, we were able to call a trust attorney and have them create a trust for the home. When the parents did pass away, the family was able to sell the property easily and collect the proceeds. It’s important to note that sometimes when people refinance their house, it can get pulled out of a trust. If you’ve done a refinance, double-check to see that your property was put back into the trust. If you’re not certain that your property has been put into a trust or you have done a refinance, you’re more than welcome to reach out to us so we can see how the title of your property is currently held. If you know your property isn’t held in a trust, we can also refer you to a great trust attorney in the area who can help you. If you have any other questions about this topic or you’re looking to buy or sell a home, feel free to give us a call or shoot us an email. We look forward to hearing from you.