Revocable Trust

A Revocable Trust is Just One Part of an Estate Plan

Published on: October 4, 2019 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

The last step of an estate plan is one that all too often gets forgotten. That’s too bad, because unless you retitle assets so that they are owned by the trusts created for the plan, means that all good planning could be worthless.

When you are done creating an estate plan, your estate planning attorney might give you a list of items that you need to take care of, including retitling or changing the ownership of things like bank accounts, brokerage accounts, shares of a privately owned business, real estate and other assets.

These assets must be put into the trust while you’re alive, to avoid probate or be distributed to the trust as a beneficiary upon your death.

Finished Your Will? Your Estate Plan’s Not Done Yet

Published on: June 7, 2019 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

Asset titling is the sticking point, where many estate plans fail. The best plan can be undone, if assets are not retitled or accounts are not funded.

Retitling assets means just that—changing the name of the asset, whether it’s a deed to a home or a name of an insurance policy. If assets are not retitled to conform to the estate plan, they won’t be protected or won’t be distributed as you and your estate attorney had planned.

Forbes’ recent article, “For Estate Plan To Work As Intended, Assets Must Be Properly Titled” notes that with the exception of the choice of potential guardians for children, the most important function of a will is to make certain that the transfer of assets to beneficiaries is the way you intended.

Time to Review Your Houston Estate Plan: 4 Key Dates

Published on: June 5, 2015 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

So how do you know if your estate plan is out-of-date? If your will or trust predates these four key “freshness dates,” it may be time to visit your attorney for a review.

Estate plans are not meant to be a one-time deal. If life changes – or the law changes – you need to update your plan accordingly.

The website nextavenue.org recently posted a very informative article, titled “Why Your Will May Be Out of Date,” which states that although your estate planning documents are still valid, they may no longer work the way you originally thought they would.