Reasons to place the title (legal ownership) of real estate in a Trust versus owning property in your personal name (I’m not an attorney and you should speak with one).

In the state of California, real estate can’t be transferred to anyone via a Will. From my experience, there is an astounding amount of real estate held in personal names, not in a Trust. I remind people to get a Trust set up and record their real estate into the Trust but it’s easy to forget to do this. Sometimes the cost of a Trust is a barrier.  This is a vitally important aspect of real estate ownership as there are many instances where the probate process, which is lengthy and expensive, will be the only mechanism available to liquidate or transfer a property. In my experience, these instances include properties vested as:

• Sole ownership.
  Married with right of survivorship and both parties have passed away.
  Married without the right of survivorship.
  Joint Tenants where all owners have passed away.
  Tenants in Common where the decedent’s shares were not vested in the name of the Trust.

The cost of probate far outweighs the cost of a Trust. As of this writing, you can get a Trust done for around $4,000 or less for most people. The cost of probate is many times that. One resource is probatecalculator.org for California which can give you an estimate of costs. I just did an example on that website of an estate worth $500,000 and the probate fees were estimated around $30,000. This or other calculators should not replace the consultation with an attorney who specializes in probate to establish real time fees. Attorney fees for probate are capped in California which is some relief at least. More than just the costs, the time the probate process takes can be daunting at a year or more, during which time your assets are not accessible.

I encourage you speak with an attorney now to discover if a Trust is right for your situation. Do it for yourself, your loved ones and charities that you may want to benefit from your estate. If you need a referral to a local attorney, I’d be pleased to point you in the right direction (p.s. I do not get paid for referring you to an attorney).

Of note – consult your attorney about the merits of recording all of your real estate into the name of the Trust and also renaming your financial accounts accordingly so your accounts are also easily and immediately distributed where you want them to go.

Written by me, a real person, not AI.