A living trust only avoids probate for the assets you actually move into it. For most California families, the most important asset is the house, and moving it into the trust takes a new deed. Here's how it works.
The trust has to exist before anything can be transferred into it. Your trust document names you as trustee, so you keep full control of the home while you're living.
A new deed (often a trust transfer deed or grant deed) transfers the home from you to you as trustee of your trust, for example "Jane Smith, Trustee of the Smith Family Trust." The legal description must match your current deed exactly.
Every owner on title signs the new deed before a notary. Kristi's appointments include notarization.
The county requires a Preliminary Change of Ownership Report (form BOE-502-A) with the deed. On it you claim the exclusion for a transfer into your own revocable trust.
The deed is recorded with the county recorder where the home sits; in San Diego County that's the Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk. Once it's recorded, the trust owns the home.
No. Moving your home into your own revocable living trust is not a change in ownership for Prop 13 purposes, so your assessed value stays the same. It's also generally exempt from documentary transfer tax, and your Homeowners' Exemption carries over because you still live there.
Federal law (the Garn-St Germain Act) stops a lender from calling your loan due just because you moved your home into a revocable trust you live in and benefit from. You keep making the same payments.
After recording, ask your homeowner's insurer to add the trust to the policy. See how to notify your insurer.
The most common problem is a trust that was signed but never funded: the deed was never recorded, so the house is still in the owner's name and goes through probate. Kristi's plans include the deed transfer and funding guidance so that doesn't happen. Request a free consultation.
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