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Originally Posted by Bizdoc
I have been going thru the problem of "odds and ends" outside of joint ownership/beneficiaries with my mom following the death of my father. The biggest problem is dealing with Treasury Direct to get the securities into her name (she's the joint owner but did not have her own separate TD account). She's now demented and cannot legally sign anything. TD's original suggestion was to become her guardian - when I talked with a guardianship attorney, I discovered the process in FL would probably take longer than she has to live. Probate would have been expensive and could drag on longer than lives, thus throwing things into probating stuff twice.
However, she provided in her durable POA that I could establish a revocable trust. Now, it has to conform to the beneficiaries in her will, but it is doable. Since the trust "outlives" her, it can still accept checks, etc made out to her (not to her estate). Have now done so and it solves some of the issues of transferring assets.
At the same time, I had a rev trust set up for me. Why? I can foresee the same potential problem of not being able to handle my affairs and having some assets not be accessible by a POA (and yes, I've had banks try to tell me that her POA was not valid!) And be sure that you understand the potential problems of not including the ability to change beneficiaries if you don't grant that power to your POA. I funded the trust with a nominal amount to make it legal.
The points above about spendthrift, etc are all good ones. I also like the fact that the trust is nice and opaque - you don't have to tell anyone outside of the trust what is going on (so long as you comply with things like tax law). The trust outlives you. You can instruct your successor trustee(s) as to what you want to happen with your assets without having to amend your will or your trust.
As a side note, check *all* of your accounts and insurance policies annually to make sure that you have valid beneficiaries and contingent beneficiaries/PODs.
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You may know that now Treasury Direct permits "entity (I.e., trust) ownership." We retitled our holdings to be held under the trust. Took a bit of paperwork but worth it in the long run. btw this was not a taxable event.
Anyone still holding paper bonds, etc. may want to investigate this.
I would also add that I've never worked with a federal government agency as helpful as TD. You talk to real people and they actually answer emails.