These are some more fallacies I have been asked, read and heard about in regards to living trusts:
Fiction: If I set up a trust I must file a separate tax return for the trust.
Fact: Most trusts do not require the filing of a separate tax return provided the person who drafted the trust has substantial control over it. IRC §§671-679. For example, if John Smith established a trust for his own benefit, the John Smith 2009 Living Trust, he would not need to file a separate tax return for the John Smith 2009 Living Trust. Such a trust in IRS speak is known as a “grantor trust.”
Fiction: If I transfer my house into a living trust, the house will be re-assessed for property tax purposes.
Fiction: If I transfer my house into a living trust, the house will be re-assessed for property tax purposes.
Fact: California law clearly says that if a couple or single person transfers their residence into a revocable trust that they created the property is not reassessed for property tax purposes. Rev & T C §§62(d). For example, if John and Mary Smith established a trust and transferred their 650 Rosewood Court residence into the trust, the assessed value of 650 Rosewood Court would remain the same after the transfer. This is particularly important for people who purchased their homes years ago and are acutely aware of the low assessed value for property tax purposes.
Fiction: Everything I own should always be transferred into a trust.
Fiction: Everything I own should always be transferred into a trust.
Fact: Due to tax and administrative reasons a retirement account and life insurance policy should not be transferred into a trust typically.
Fiction: If I do not write a will or a trust, the government will inherit my property.
Fiction: If I do not write a will or a trust, the government will inherit my property.
Fact: To quote the character Randolph Duke from the movie Trading Places, “hogwash.” The government, namely the state of California, will only inherit your property (called escheat) if you have no relative or you do have a relative but they cannot be located. For example, there would be no escheat if your had either a spouse, child, parent, grandchild, grandparent, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece or distant cousins (Please click on the diagram below). Consequently, the odds of a person not having any relative alive when they die is ostensibly zilch. The cases in which escheat occurs, and it is very rare, comes about because a person moved far far away from their family. Ultimately, escheat is a very narrow exception to the rule that somebody other than the government will inherit your property.
