You made a living trust online. Now fund it, or it will not avoid probate
A living trust only controls what you put into it, so after signing, retitle your house into the trust with a new deed, change your bank and investment accounts to the trust's name or add it as the payable-on-death beneficiary, and leave retirement accounts where they are, naming beneficiaries instead. Do the deed yourself or with a local title company if you are organised; if you want it done for you, Trust & Will's partner charges $140 per deed, plus recording fees and LegalZoom's service is $249, plus state filing fees. Anything you miss falls to your pour-over will and may go through probate.
By Nora Whitfield, consumer researcher (not an attorney). Published . Based on the providers' published pricing and terms. How we check.
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Signing a living trust creates an empty container. The trust controls only what it owns, and on the day you sign it owns nothing. Moving your assets into it is called funding, and it is the step most people who make a trust online leave undone.
The cost of skipping it is the thing you were trying to avoid. At your death, anything still in your own name passes under your pour-over will, which sends it to the trust, but only after probate. A trust that was never funded is, in practice, an expensive will.
This page shows how to fund each kind of asset, what the online services will do for you and what they charge. Service details come from each company’s own pages, read on the date in the facts table. This is general information; your state, your lender and your bank may have their own forms.
What goes into the trust, and how?
| Asset | Usual method | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Your home and other real estate | New deed from you to you as trustee, notarised and recorded with the county | The single most important step |
| Bank accounts | Retitle to the trust, or name the trust as payable-on-death beneficiary | Ask the bank; most have a form |
| Brokerage and investment accounts | Retitle to the trust, or add a transfer-on-death beneficiary | The brokerage will want a certification of trust |
| Retirement accounts (401(k), IRA) | Do not retitle. Name beneficiaries on the plan’s form | Retitling can be treated as a withdrawal |
| Life insurance | Name the trust as beneficiary if the trust is meant to hold the money, especially for minor children | Done on the insurer’s form |
| Vehicles | Usually leave out; use your state’s transfer-on-death option if it has one | Check your motor vehicle agency |
| Personal belongings | A general assignment of personal property to the trust | Often included with online trusts |
| Business interests | Assign your LLC or partnership interest to the trust | Check the operating agreement first |
How do you move your house into the trust?
This is the step that does most of the work, and it is less complicated than it sounds.
- Get a copy of your current deed from your county recorder’s office or website. You need the exact legal description of the property.
- Prepare a new deed transferring the property from you, as an individual, to you as trustee of your trust. The type of deed varies by state; quitclaim and grant deeds are common for transfers into your own trust.
- Sign it before a notary. County recorders generally require notarised signatures.
- Record it with the county recorder and pay the recording fee. Some states and counties require extra forms; California, for example, asks for a change of ownership report with the deed.
- Keep the recorded deed with your trust documents.
Your mortgage. Federal law protects you here. The Garn-St Germain Act bars a lender from enforcing a due-on-sale clause on a transfer into a living trust in which you remain a beneficiary and which does not change who lives in the home. Many people still notify the lender as a courtesy.
Your home insurance. Ask your insurer to add the trust or you as trustee to the policy.
Property tax. Transferring your home into your own revocable trust does not normally change your property tax or homestead exemption, but some counties require you to file a form. Ask your county assessor.
Title insurance. Ask your title insurer whether your policy continues to cover the property in the trust, or whether you need an endorsement.
If you own property in more than one state, fund each property into the trust. That is how a trust avoids probate in every state where you own real estate, not only your home state.
What will the online services do for you?
| Service | Funding help | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Trust & Will | Deed transfer through a partner; funding guidance in your account | $140 per deed, plus recording fees; notarising the deed costs extra |
| LegalZoom | Deed transfer service | $249, plus state filing fees |
| Rocket Lawyer | Documents only: funding worksheet, bill of transfer, certification of trust | Included in membership |
| LawDepot | Quitclaim and warranty deed templates | In its document library |
| GoodTrust | Explains funding; no deed service published | None |
| Quicken WillMaker & Trust | No deed service | None |
Trust & Will says it earns a referral commission on its deed partner. That does not make the service bad value, but it is worth knowing when comparing it with a local title company, which may charge less for a straightforward transfer.
Do it yourself, or pay someone?
Do it yourself if you own one home in one state, your county recorder publishes clear instructions and forms, and you are comfortable copying a legal description exactly. The cost is the recording fee and a notary.
Pay someone if you own property in several states, your property is a condominium or held with someone other than your spouse, your title has quirks (a past divorce, an inherited share, an unrecorded deed), or you simply want it off your list. A local title company or real estate attorney is the alternative to the online services’ partners.
Bank and investment accounts
For each account, call or visit the institution and ask how it wants trust ownership handled. Most will ask for a certification of trust, a short document that proves the trust exists and names the trustee without revealing its contents. Many online trust packages include one; Rocket Lawyer lists it as a related document.
You can choose between two approaches:
- Retitle the account into the trust’s name. The trust owns it now.
- Keep it in your name with the trust as payable-on-death or transfer-on-death beneficiary. It passes to the trust at your death without probate, and nothing changes during your life.
The second is often simpler for everyday checking accounts.
The accounts you should not retitle
Retirement accounts, such as a 401(k), 403(b) or IRA, stay in your name. Changing their owner can be treated as a withdrawal and taxed. Instead, name your beneficiaries directly on the plan’s form, often your spouse first, with your children or your trust as contingent beneficiaries. Naming a trust as beneficiary of a retirement account has tax consequences that are worth a short conversation with a tax adviser.
A funding checklist
- List every asset, with the institution, account number and how it is titled now.
- Deed the house into the trust and record it.
- Retitle or add the trust as beneficiary on each bank and brokerage account.
- Check beneficiary forms on retirement accounts and life insurance.
- Sign an assignment of personal property.
- Tell your insurer about the house.
- Keep a funding record with your trust: what went in, when, and how.
- Fund new assets as you buy them. A new house bought in your own name needs a new deed.
If you have not bought a trust yet and want help with this step built in, our page on online living trusts that help you fund them compares what each service actually does.
Questions people ask next
Will moving my house into the trust trigger my mortgage's due-on-sale clause?
Generally no. Federal law (the Garn-St Germain Act) bars lenders from enforcing a due-on-sale clause when you transfer a home into a living trust in which you remain a beneficiary and occupant. Many people still let their lender know, and some lenders have their own form.
Do I need to tell my home insurer?
Yes. Ask your insurer to add the trust, or you as trustee, to the policy, so there is no question about coverage if the house is owned by the trust when a claim is made.
Should my car go into the trust?
Usually not. Many states let a small number of vehicles pass outside probate through simplified procedures or transfer-on-death registration, and putting a car in a trust can complicate insurance. Check your state's motor vehicle rules.
What happens to assets I forget to put in the trust?
Your pour-over will catches them and directs them to the trust. But they may have to go through probate first, which is what the trust was meant to avoid. That is why funding matters.
Do I have to change the name on my bank account?
You can retitle it to the trust, or in many cases simply name the trust as the payable-on-death beneficiary, which leaves the account in your name while you are alive and passes it to the trust at death. Ask your bank which it prefers.
Does funding a trust affect my taxes?
A revocable living trust uses your Social Security number while you are alive and you report income as before. It does not, on its own, reduce income or estate tax. Some states have property tax forms to file when you transfer a home into a trust; ask your county assessor.
Sources
This page is general information, not legal advice. Laws differ by state and change; talk to a licensed attorney about your situation.