Who Owns Property In a Trust?

Assets that are transferred into the trust turns into trust property.

Trust property comprises of any assets that the grantor — the creator of the trust— transferred into the trust throughout their lifetime, or assets in which the trust was a beneficiary upon the grantor’s passing. Trust property could include real estate and personal belongings, whether physical belongings or nonphysical ones, such as financial institution accounts or economic interests.

With a trust, in which is a individual legal entity from its creator, can assist your heirs in saving time and money after you pass away— trust assets could avoid probate and pass to beneficiaries without going to court, making a trust a vital component of an estate plan. Transferring assets into a trust can also decrease your tax liability, but that is subject to the kind of trust you open and if you are the owner the assets. Revocable trust assets are still deemed your property, whereas irrevocable trust property isn’t.

Who is owner of property in a trust?

Whereas the trust retains assets that have been retitled into it, who is the owner of the trust property for tax purposes and other legal purposes is subject to the kind of trust. There are a lot of various kinds of trusts, but the primary kinds are revocable and irrevocable.

Using a revocable trust (sometimes called grantor trust), the grantor is the owner of the trust property. Even though assets might have been retitled into the trust’s name, the grantor is required to report any income or monetary profits from the assets in the trust through their tax return, and if they get sued, creditors could come for the revocable trust property.

Irrevocable trust property is solely owned by the trust. The grantor has no ties of ownership to the assets from a legal and financial viewpoint. The trustee files a tax return for the irrevocable trust, in which has its own tax ID number; any income tax owed by the trust gets paid using the trust, and not by the trustee and/or the grantor. Irrevocable trusts also provide asset safeguarding so trust property cannot be lost in a legal conflict towards the grantor.

Creating an irrevocable trust usually requires the assistance of a legal professional, such as an estate lawyer. If you don’t create the irrevocable trust correctly, then you may face unintended tax repercussions.

What occurs to property in a trust if the grantor passes away?

Following the grantor passing away, the trustee allocates property to trust beneficiaries or continues administering the assets in accordance withthe trust documentation. When the grantor was also the trustee, then a successor trustee is going to take over the role. It’s not unusual to create a trust fund or a family trust that remains to exist long after the grantor has passed away to control an extravagant beneficiary’s spending or offer consistent income for a surviving spouse.

When the trust documentation has instructions for beneficiaries to get assets upon the passing of the grantor, they can get without heading through probate.

Source:

1. Trust property: Who owns it & what is it? Policygenius. (n.d.). Retrieved October 5, 2021, from https://www.policygenius.com/trusts/what-is-trust-property/.

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