My aunt just died. What is a revocable trust?

A revocable trust is one where the grantor reserves the right to revoke the trust. It’s taxed a little differently than an irrevocable trust. Check with your tax preparer to see if there are any issues. Less than $600 of income it should be ok. Hard to tell what your bank will do. I’d say have a certified copy and ask for someone with authority, not a teller or csr.

As I understand it, what it boils down to is you become the trustee. You’ll need to check with a tax adviser about the details, but I believe there are some rules that allow you to calculate the tax basis when you liquidate assets from the value of those assets when you became trustee rather than what your aunt paid for them. In other words, if she bought some property that is owned by the trust and it has increased in value by a million bucks, you only pay for taxes on the increase since you became trustee rather than the whole million buck increase over the whole life of the trust.

revocable trust – definition of revocable trust – A trust that may be altered or terminated during the grantor’s lifetime. Yup I would take the Death Certificate. , h and you may need to find out if she had a lawyer, may need help in his one.

I understand the trust is in the thousands of dollars.

Do you think I will need an attorney?

The whole idea of a trust is to avoid lawyers. I hope she gave you a copy of the trust papers, and an idea of where to find all of her assets, because the banks and companies who have them won’t offer the information. Did she name you as trustee? If so, and being the sole beneficiary, you get it all. You don’t need a will with a trust. You do need to prove she has passed, so you will need the death certificate.

I have a trust myself. I am a widow, so when I go my four children will get everything I have, the house, cars, bank accounts, possessions, and they won’t have to go to court for it.

Skaggfacemutt. I am not her trustee. Her bank is the trustee. I do have a certified copy of the initial papers that were signed by her, in 1994 with the account number. Back when she became ill, I contacted her trustee and he verified the money was there and I was the sole beneficary. Since she did not have a will,can this trust fund be challenged as part of her estate or is it standing alone.

She made her bank the trustee!! I have never heard of such a thing. Her bank must have draw up the papers. The idea is that the person you trust the most is the one you pick as trustee – usually a relative – not a bank or a lawyer!

The other idea of a trust is to put ALL of your assets into the trust. Your trust IS your estate. It wouldn’t make sense to have them separate. But then, it doesn’t make sense to let your bank be your trustee, either.

It is possible that the bank might try to weasel out of giving you the money, since your aunt put them in the position to do so. They might try to charge you a load of fees, if nothing else. Depends on how honest they are. I wouldn’t hire a lawyer unless they pull something like that. Try to get it on your own first.

@Skaggfacemutt It happens all the time. Most banks have trust departments. A lot of people use them when they have complex situations or don’t have very responsible family members.

@Adirondackwannabe I didn’t know that. Personally, I would not trust a bank or a lawyer to decide what to do with my money after I’m gone. I guess if this is a normal practice, then I wouldn’t think @john65pennington will have any trouble collecting.

@Skaggfacemutt Except he has to deal with the bank’s having control of it and pay their fees.

@Adirondackwannabe Yes, that is the pits! I wouldn’t have done that even if my only relative was a meth-head.

So, you being the beneficiary rather than the trustee, you do not have to do anything. Essentially nothing changes. However, I suspect that it was set up so that upon her death the trustee is required to revoke the trust and all assets go directly to the beneficiary.

Of course, I’m not a financial adviser (nor do I play one on TV) so it might be a good idea to consult one as they are sure to know a heck of a lot more about it than your average jellie. Actually, the trust department of the bank where it is set up would be a great place to start asking questions.

Having a bank as the trustee is not that uncommon. I was the beneficiary of a trust with a bank as a trustee that my dad set up to pay for higher education.

Take the Death Certificate with you (you may actually need more than one copy, but the bank will let you know). You shouldn’t need an attorney for this at all.