[skyguy79]

Originally Posted by redwitch

It can be a living trust. It can also be that the owner has become unable to manage their estate or died and a trustee has been appointed. If the trustee is not the homeowner, you can frequently get a better deal since the family wants to get rid of the property as soon as possible so the estate can be settled.

Our home here in TV is in a Living Trust (aka Revokable Trust) and our home in NY State is in the same trust. The explaination Redwitch gave is accurate but I believe that most trusts are the kind we have, a living trust.

We setup our trust with our lawyers and in it named ourselves as the trustees with our son being named default trustee in the event of our deaths. We then as owners (Grantors) transferred our NY home into the trust thereby no longer owning it personally ourselves. It is now property of the trust and as trustees of the trust we have full control of the property just as if we were still the owners.

When we purchased our home here in TV last month, my wife and I being the purchasers had the property transfered directly into the trust. Again we are not personally the owners, but as trustees of the trust we are now in control of the property, and as with our NY home responsible for all expenses related to the home, including any taxes, bonds, etc. as well as entitled to any exemptions we would have qualified for as direct owners!

Upon our deaths, our son would become trustee like in Redwich's explaination except for a different avenue of getting there. Our son would then have the options of selling the property, transfering it to himself or transfering it into a trust of his own.

As a disclaimer, I am far from being a lawyer and my description and/or terms could vary a bit in accuracy! In any case an attorney's consultation is recommended in the planning of any trusts.