We are halfway through our blog series on setting up trusts in Oklahoma. We are at the most important part of setting up a trust in Oklahoma. We previously explained the roles of trustee and beneficiary. We also talked about how to design a trust so it is customized for your needs.
But now, we must talk about the extremely important steps that take place after designing your trust.
The most important part of setting up a trust is transferring assets to the trust
Let’s recap what we’ve learned so far. A trust is an agreement between the Grantor and the Trustee. The Grantor gives property to the Trustee, and the Trustee holds title to that property until it is time to give it to the Beneficiaries.
The initial steps are setting up a trust require you to appoint persons to these roles. Next, you will customize the trust with your attorney during the design session. Finally, you will execute the trust by signing it before a notary. But all of these steps merely involve setting it up.
Setting up your trust is not enough. If you want it to work, you must transfer the assets to the trustee, so the trustee can hold them in trust. This final step is critical. If you skip this step, your trust documents will not work. They will make no difference to you or your family.
Most lawyers skip this step when setting up a trust in Oklahoma
Most lawyers skip this step. They do not handle this part of the estate plan. Instead, after drafting the documents, they hand them to the client and tell the client to handle this part on their own. Without emphasizing the importance of this step in the process, many clients may delay or put this off, not realizing that their trust will not work without completing this extra work.
Emphasizing the importance of funding the trust is one thing that separates our firm from other estate planning attorneys in Oklahoma City. We view this aspect of estate planning as the attorney’s job.
Now, if our client prefers to handle this on their own, that is fine. We will provide them with instructions and unlimited support. We do not bill by the hour. Therefore, our clients may call us for help without worrying about being billed.
But we always follow up with clients to ensure that their newly created trust is properly funded. After all, they hired us to deliver specific future outcomes. And if we stumble right at the beginning of the relationship – right after drafting the client’s trust – then our client’s will not receive the outcomes they paid us to achieve.
What makes us different when setting up a trust in Oklahoma
When you hire us to prepare your estate plan, you will receive comprehensive services, from start to finish. We start with a 15-minute phone call. We want to discover the basic reasons why you want an estate plan. We then will send you our intake packet, which provides further detail on your estate. After getting this back, we will meet for a Family Wealth Planning Session. This 2-hour meeting is part-consultation, part working-meeting where we design your plan.
During the design session, you will help us create a trust that works with the rest of your estate plan to achieve your personal goals. We can customize your plan however you want. But once we are finished designing your plan, we must execute it and then transfer your assets. If we don’t, your plan will not work!
The funding process took take some time. There are different processes for real estate, bank accounts, retirement accounts, and life insurance. There may be other individuals involved: bank officers, stockbrokers, financial advisors, accountants, and insurance agents. It doesn’t matter what needs to be done. It just needs to be done. And someone needs to be monitoring this process to make sure it gets done. And that is one level of service that we provide to our clients.
We also believe in regularly reviewing and updating the trust. Again, if your trust is out of date, it won’t work when you need it. And it won’t help your family when they need it.
We provide regular reviews every three years at no additional cost. This is included in our estate planning services.
Interested in becoming a client? Give us a call 405-607-779 or send us an email to learn more.