The Trust Funding Checklist

What’s inside the guide

• Which asset types actually need to be retitled into your trust, and which ones never do
• How real estate gets moved into the trust, including the deed that puts your home in the trust’s name
• How to retitle bank and brokerage accounts so they’re held by the trust instead of by you individually
• Why a trust that looks complete on paper can still leave your family in probate court
• An asset-by-asset order to work through so nothing on your list gets missed

Does putting my house in a trust trigger a property tax reassessment?

No. Moving your home into your own revocable living trust does not disturb your existing Proposition 13 base year value, and it does not affect your later ability to use an over-55 base year value transfer if you qualify for one. The deed into the trust changes how title is held, not who owns the property for tax purposes.

What happens if I never retitle my assets into the trust?

Nothing happens automatically, and that is the problem. A trust only controls what is actually titled in its name. Any account or piece of property still titled in your individual name when you die has to go through probate to reach your beneficiaries, even though you signed a trust years earlier.

Do beneficiary designations override my trust?

For certain assets, yes. Retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and payable-on-death or transfer-on-death accounts pass to whoever is named on that account’s own beneficiary form, not through your trust. Retitling the account in the trust’s name does not fix a wrong or outdated beneficiary form; you have to check and update that form directly on each account.

If you are not sure whether your own trust is actually funded, start with our trust health check.