Assignment of Assets to Trust

Family Code text: unless the instrument expressly provides otherwise, community property transferred in trust remains community property during the marriage if the trust is revocable as to that property during the…

Probate Code text: notwithstanding section 100, community property held in a revocable trust described in Family Code section 761 is governed by the provisions, if any, in the trust for disposition at death.

Trust Law text: while a trust is revocable and a person holding the power to revoke is competent, that person, not the beneficiaries, has the rights afforded beneficiaries and the trustee's duties run to that person,…

A transfer may be made without writing in every case in which a writing is not expressly required by statute.

The existence and terms of an oral trust of personal property may be established only by clear and convincing evidence, and the settlor's oral declaration standing alone is not sufficient evidence of the creation of a…

Trust Law text: a revocable trust may be revoked in whole or part by any method the instrument provides, or by a writing other than a will signed by the settlor or holder of the power and delivered to the trustee during…

Trust Law text requiring the trustee to serve a notification when a revocable trust or part of it becomes irrevocable because of a settlor's death, on a change of trustee of an irrevocable trust, and in the other stated…

Text listing what is excluded from the estate and its value for the small estate procedures: joint tenancy property, life and other interests terminating at death, property passing to the surviving spouse under section…

Trust Law text: unless a trust is expressly made irrevocable by the instrument, it is revocable by the settlor;

Connecticut text on contests after death: a proceeding to contest a trust that was revocable at the settlor's death must be brought within the earlier of one year after death or one hundred twenty days after the trustee…

Connecticut title-transfer rule: an owner transferring an interest in a vehicle must, at delivery, execute an assignment and warranty of title to the transferee on the certificate of title (or as the commissioner…

A reference in a will to a trust document does not itself make the trust assets part of the probate estate. Background to the pour-over rules in section 45a-260.

Connecticut definitions for the Uniform Transfer on Death Security Registration Act, including "beneficiary form" (a registration showing the present owner and the person who will own the security at the owner's death),…

Connecticut duty that a trustee shall take reasonable steps to take control of and protect the trust property. An assignment of the settlor's personal property to the trustee is one step toward that control.

Connecticut duties that a trustee keep adequate records of administration, keep trust property separate from the trustee's own property, and, except for commingled investment of separate trusts with clear records, cause…

Connecticut text limiting when a beneficiary's creditor may attach or compel a distribution, covering property subject to a lapsed or limited power of withdrawal and distributions limited to an ascertainable standard,…

Connecticut text on revocation and amendment: unless the terms expressly make the trust irrevocable the settlor may revoke or amend it, but that presumption does not apply to instruments executed before January 1, 2020;

Connecticut Uniform Trust Code text listing how a trust may be created: transfer of property to a trustee during the settlor's lifetime by deed or otherwise or by will, a declaration by the owner that the owner holds…

Connecticut rule that registration in beneficiary form may be shown by the words "transfer on death" or "TOD", or "pay on death" or "POD", after the name of the registered owner and before the name of a beneficiary.

Delaware text: the governing instrument may expand, restrict, eliminate or vary the laws of general application to fiduciaries and trusts, including beneficiaries' rights to information for a period, removal grounds,…

Delaware text allowing an irrevocable trust, unless the instrument expressly forbids it, to be modified by written consent or nonobjection of all trustors, serving fiduciaries and interested beneficiaries while the…

Delaware spendthrift text: except as subsections (c) and (d) provide, a beneficiary's creditor has only the rights the instrument or Delaware law expressly grants, and any interest not so subject is exempt from…

Land is transferred by DEED, without livery of seisin, and the legal estate passes with the use. The foundational Delaware conveyancing section; the formalities that make the deed recordable are in title 9 chapter 96.

Delaware list of specific trustee powers, including collecting trust property and accepting or declining additions from a trustor or any other person, acquiring or selling property, depositing funds with a regulated…

Delaware text: where spouses contribute property they held as tenants by the entireties to a trust revocable by either or both, a creditor of either or both spouses is limited to an order directing the trustee to…

Delaware text: after the death of the trustor of a trust that was revocable immediately before death, claims that could have been brought against the trustor's estate are barred against the trust when and to the same…

Delaware text: a claim against a trustee may be brought until the first to occur of one year after the person was sent a report adequately disclosing the facts, or 120 days after a report from a resigning or removed…

Delaware rule that a person other than a beneficiary who in good faith assists or deals for value with a trustee, without knowledge that the trustee is exceeding or improperly exercising the trustee's powers, is…

Delaware text on the certification of trust: in place of the instrument the trustee may provide a certification of the trust's existence and execution date, the trustors and acting trustees, the trustee's powers,…

D.C. text stating that the capacity required to create, amend, revoke or add property to a revocable trust, or to direct its trustee, is the same as that required to make a will.

D.C. text on the time to contest a trust that was revocable at the settlor's death (the earliest of one year after death, 90 days after the trustee's notice with the instrument, or six months after published notice as…

D.C. text on how a trust may be created: by transfer of property to a trustee during the settlor's lifetime or at death, by the owner's declaration that the owner holds identifiable property as trustee, by exercise of a…

D.C. text on revocation and amendment: unless the terms expressly provide that the trust is irrevocable the settlor may revoke or amend it (for instruments executed on or after March 10, 2004), with rules for multiple…

District of Columbia text (Uniform Nonprobate Transfers on Death Act § 302): only individuals whose registration shows sole ownership, or multiple ownership with right of survivorship rather than as tenants in common,…

District of Columbia text: a declaration or creation of a trust of real estate that is not in writing signed by the party able to declare it, or by that party's written will, is void, and a grant or assignment of a…

Definitions for the D.C. Uniform Trust Code, including "beneficiary", "qualified beneficiary", "revocable", "settlor" and "trust instrument". Read the complete section before relying on any defined term.

D.C. text recognizing a trust not created by will as validly created if its creation complies with the law of the place of execution or of the settlor's domicile, abode or nationality, a trustee's domicile or place of…

District of Columbia text (Uniform Trust Code § 407): except as another statute requires, a trust need not be evidenced by a trust document, but an oral trust and its terms may be established only by clear and…

D.C. text on spendthrift provisions: valid only if it restrains both voluntary and involuntary transfer, the words "spendthrift trust" or similar are sufficient, and a beneficiary may not transfer an interest in…

Florida text requiring the trustee of a trust described in section 733.707(3) to pay the settlor's personal representative the amounts certified as required for expenses of administration and obligations of the estate,…

Florida text stating that the capacity required to create, amend, revoke or add property to a revocable trust, or to direct the trustee of a revocable trust, is the same as that required to make a will.

Florida text requiring grants, conveyances, or assignments of a trust or confidence in lands, or any estate or interest in them, to be made by deed signed and delivered in the presence of two subscribing witnesses by…

A lifetime transfer of homestead property, including to a trust, is effective as the section provides and is not a devise. One of the planning routes around the section 732.4015 restriction;

Florida Trust Code text listing the methods of creating a trust: transfer of property to a trustee during the settlor's lifetime or by will or other disposition taking effect on death, a declaration by the owner of…

Florida text on validity of a trust created under another jurisdiction's law and, in subsection (2)(b), the requirement that the testamentary aspects of a revocable trust executed by a Florida domiciliary be executed…

Florida text on revocation and amendment: unless the terms expressly provide the trust is irrevocable the settlor may revoke or amend it (for instruments executed on or after the code's effective date);

Florida text defining pay-on-death accounts and designations, providing that a POD beneficiary has no right to sums on deposit during any party's lifetime, that on the death of the sole or last surviving party the sums…

Florida: 689.01 generally requires a written instrument signed in the presence of two subscribing witnesses for its covered conveyances, preserving testamentary/operation-of-law provisions, leases and instruments…

Florida text requiring declarations and creations of trust in lands to be manifested and proved by a writing signed by the party authorized to declare or create the trust, or by that party's will, or they are void,…

Maryland text stating that the capacity required to create, amend, revoke or add property to a revocable trust, or to direct its trustee, is the same as that required to make a will, and that the settlor's later…

Maryland text on how a trust may be created: by transfer of property to a trustee during the settlor's lifetime or at death, by the owner's declaration that the owner holds identifiable property as trustee, or by…

Property spouses held as tenants by the entirety and then conveyed to a trustee, plus its traceable proceeds, keeps the same immunity from the claims of the separate creditors of each spouse as if they had continued to…

Maryland text on revocation and amendment: unless the terms expressly provide that the trust is irrevocable the settlor may revoke or amend it (for instruments executed on or after January 1, 2015), with rules for…

Maryland text requiring a proceeding to contest a trust that was revocable at the settlor's death to be commenced within the earlier of one year after death or six months after the trustee sends the instrument and the…

Maryland text of the Uniform Transfer on Death Security Registration Act: only individuals whose registration shows sole ownership, or multiple ownership with right of survivorship rather than as tenants in common, may…

Maryland text allowing a legacy to the trustee of a written inter vivos trust (including an unfunded life insurance trust) executed and in existence before or contemporaneously with the will and identified in it,…

Maryland text: no action may be brought on a contract for the sale or disposition of land or any interest in or concerning land unless the contract, or a memorandum or note of it, is in writing and signed by the party…

Maryland text: except as § 5-107 provides (trusts arising by implication or operation of law), every declaration of trust, or amendment to it, respecting land must be manifested and proved by a writing signed by the…

Definitions for the Maryland Trust Act, including "beneficiary", "discretionary distribution provision", "qualified beneficiary", "revocable" and "settlor".

Massachusetts text: a contest of a trust that was revocable at the settlor's death must be commenced within the earlier of one year after death or 60 days after the trustee sent the person a copy of the instrument with…

Massachusetts Uniform Trust Code text listing the methods of creating a trust: transfer of property to a trustee during the settlor's lifetime or by will, a declaration by the owner that the owner holds identifiable…

Massachusetts text: unless the terms expressly make the trust irrevocable the settlor may revoke or amend it;

Massachusetts duty that a trustee shall take reasonable steps to take control of and protect the trust property. An assignment of the settlor's personal property to the trustee is one of those steps.

Massachusetts duties that a trustee keep adequate records of the trust's administration and keep trust property separate from the trustee's own property, while allowing the property of two or more separate trusts to be…

Massachusetts text that a provision for a nonprobate transfer on death in listed instruments, including a conveyance, deed of gift, marital property agreement or other written instrument effective as a contract, gift,…

Massachusetts definitions for Part 3 of Article VI of chapter 190B, the Massachusetts version of the Uniform TOD Security Registration Act (Massachusetts has no chapter 201E): "beneficiary form", "register",…

Massachusetts rule that registration in beneficiary form may be shown by the words "transfer on death" or "TOD", or "pay on death" or "POD", after the name of the registered owner and before the name of a beneficiary.

Massachusetts rule that a person other than a beneficiary who in good faith assists or deals for value with a trustee, without knowledge that the trustee is exceeding or improperly exercising the trustee's powers, is…

Massachusetts text on the certification of trust: instead of the instrument the trustee may furnish a certification of the trust's existence and execution date, the settlor, the acting trustee and address, the trustee's…

The capacity required to create, amend, revoke or add property to a revocable trust, or to direct the actions of its trustee, is the same as that required to make a will.

A proceeding to contest a trust that was revocable at the settlor's death must begin within the earlier of three years after the death or four months for a resident, six months for a nonresident, after the trustee sends…

New Jersey Testamentary Additions to Trusts Law text: a will may validly devise property to the trustee of a trust established, or to be established, during the testator's lifetime by the testator or another person,…

A transaction intended to transfer an interest in real estate is not effective to transfer ownership unless a writing signed by or for the transferor establishes a description sufficient to identify the real estate, the…

A security, whether evidenced by certificate or account, is registered in beneficiary form when the registration includes a designation of a beneficiary to take ownership at the death of the owner or of all multiple…

New Jersey Uniform Trust Code text: a trust may be created by transfer of property under a written instrument to another person as trustee during the settlor's lifetime or by will or other written disposition taking…

Unless the terms expressly provide that the trust is irrevocable, or clear and convincing evidence proves the settlor intended it to be irrevocable, the settlor may revoke or amend the trust, and subsection a.

Except as limited by N.J.S.A. 3B:11-4.1 and other express statutory restrictions, a trustee may exercise without court authorization the powers conferred by the terms of the trust and, unless the terms limit them, all…

An agreement to transfer an interest in real estate, or to hold an interest in real estate for the benefit of another, is not enforceable unless a description sufficient to identify the real estate, the nature of the…

Proceeds of thrift, savings, pension, retirement, death benefit, stock bonus and profit-sharing plans, of life, group life, industrial life and accident and health policies, and of annuity, endowment and supplemental…

An agreement, promise or undertaking that is a contract to establish a trust, a contract to make a testamentary provision of any kind, or a personal representative's promise to answer for a decedent's debt or default is…

The rights of a payee or beneficiary designated to receive payment on death under a pension, retirement, death benefit, stock bonus or profit-sharing plan, system or trust, or under an annuity, endowment, life, group…

Pour-over text: a testator may by will dispose of or appoint all or part of the estate to the trustee of a trust whose terms are evidenced by a written instrument, whether or not assets were transferred before death,…

Text in one sentence: every estate in property may be disposed of by lifetime trust. Read section 7-1.18 on how assets are transferred into the trust, since the trust is valid only as to assets actually transferred.

Text on funding: a lifetime trust is valid as to any assets only to the extent they have been transferred to it; a recital of assignment, holding or receipt in the instrument is not a transfer;

Definition: a "lifetime trust" is an express trust, with all its amendments, created other than by will;

Text on a governing-law clause: where a person not domiciled in New York creates a trust that provides it shall be governed by New York law, the provision is given effect for the validity, effect and interpretation of…

Any person, as defined in section 1-2.12, may dispose of real and personal property by lifetime trust, and a natural person who creates a lifetime trust must be eighteen years of age or older.

A lifetime trust is irrevocable unless it expressly provides that it is revocable;

A testator may devise or appoint property to the trustee of a trust already in existence, which is Ohio's pour-over provision. Name the trust by its exact name and date so the gift is identifiable.

The defined terms for Ohio's Trust Code, which governs any trust a will pours into. Read before drafting a pour-over gift or a testamentary trust.

Ohio text providing that designating a transfer-on-death beneficiary on a security registration has no effect on ownership until the owner's death, and that the registration may be canceled or changed at any time by the…

Ohio text stating when a trust is created: the settlor has capacity and indicates an intention to create the trust, the trust has a definite beneficiary or falls within a listed exception, the trustee has duties to…

Ohio text on the certification of trust a trustee may furnish instead of the instrument: it lists the required contents (existence and date of the trust, settlor, acting trustee, trustee powers, revocability and who may…

Ohio text providing that no lease, estate or interest in lands shall be assigned or granted except by deed or note in writing signed by the party granting it or an authorized agent, or by operation of law.

Ohio text in the Uniform Transfer-on-Death Security Registration Act allowing only individuals whose registration shows sole ownership, or multiple ownership with a right of survivorship rather than as tenants in…

Ohio text providing that a transfer on death from a registration in beneficiary form is effective by reason of the contract between the owner and the registering entity and sections 1709.01 to 1709.11, and is not…

Ohio text allowing an owner to contract with a bank, savings association, credit union, or society for savings to make deposit or share account proceeds payable on death to another person or to any entity or…

Ohio text allowing an individual whose certificate of title shows sole ownership, or joint owners with right of survivorship, to apply for a certificate of title designating a motor vehicle, all-purpose vehicle,…

The capacity required to create, amend, revoke or add property to a revocable trust, or to direct the actions of its trustee, is the same as that required to make a will.

The settlor may revoke or amend a trust unless the terms expressly provide that it is irrevocable;

A person with standing may contest the validity of a revocable trust by petition to the court, filed no later than one year after the trustee gave the notice required by section 7780.3(c), which the court may shorten to…

A pour-over gift to a trust is valid even if the trust is unfunded, amendable or revocable, and even if it was amended after the will was signed.

A security, whether evidenced by certificate or account, is registered in beneficiary form when the registration includes a designation of a beneficiary, which may include a trustee of a trust, to take ownership at the…

Designating a TOD beneficiary on a registration in beneficiary form has no effect on ownership until the owner's death, and the sole owner or all then surviving owners may cancel or change the registration at any time…

A transfer on death resulting from a registration in beneficiary form is effective by reason of the contract regarding the registration between the owner and the registering entity and Chapter 64, and is not…

Text (as amended by Act 64 of 2024) of the Uniform Trust Code definitions for Chapter 77, including property (anything that may be the subject of ownership, real or personal, legal or equitable, or any interest in it),…

The terms of a trust prevail over contrary provisions of the chapter except for the mandatory rules listed in subsection (b), beginning with the requirements for creation in section 7732, the trustee's duty to act in…

Terms designating the situs of a trust are valid and controlling if a trustee's principal place of business or residence, all or part of the administration, a beneficiary's residence, or a trust director's principal…

Texas text allowing a motor vehicle owner to transfer the owner's interest to a sole beneficiary effective at death by a designation under Transportation Code section 501.0315, and stating that the designation is…

All property possessed by either spouse at dissolution is PRESUMED COMMUNITY, and separate character must be proved by CLEAR AND CONVINCING EVIDENCE. The burden is the practical battleground;

Texas Trust Code text listing the methods of creating a trust: a property owner's declaration, an inter vivos transfer to a trustee, a testamentary transfer, an appointment under a power of appointment, or a promise…

Texas text stating that a trust cannot be created unless there is trust property. Read with sections 112.001, 112.004 and 112.006 before relying on a general assignment to fund a revocable trust.

Texas text stating that property may be added to an existing trust from any source in any manner unless the addition is prohibited by the terms of the trust or the property is unacceptable to the trustee.

Texas text making the named trustee's signature on the writing evidencing the trust, or on a separate written acceptance, conclusive evidence that the trustee accepted the trust, and presuming acceptance by a named…

Texas text stating that a lifetime trust creating an interest in another beneficiary is not invalid as an attempted testamentary disposition merely because the settlor reserves a beneficial life interest, the power to…

Texas text allowing a trustee to receive additions to the trust's assets from any source. Section 113.001 allows the trust terms to limit this default power.

Texas text allowing a motor vehicle owner to designate a sole beneficiary to whom the owner's interest transfers at death under Estates Code chapter 115, by applying for title with the designation, which must state that…

Texas text providing that the Estates Code does not invalidate a provision in an insurance policy, employment contract, bond, mortgage, promissory note, deposit agreement, retirement account, custodial agreement, trust…

Virginia text stating that the capacity required to create, amend, revoke or add property to a revocable trust, or to direct its trustee, is the same as that required to make a will.

Virginia text on the time to contest a trust that was revocable at the settlor's death (the earlier of two years after death or six months after the trustee's notice with a copy of the instrument) and on the trustee's…

Confirms that spouses may hold real or personal property as tenants by the entirety, that the tenancy may be created by a direct conveyance from one spouse, and that entireties property conveyed to a qualifying joint…

Eight acts are unavailable unless the power of attorney expressly grants them and no other statute, agreement, or instrument bars them: creating, amending, revoking, or terminating an inter vivos trust; making a gift;

Virginia text: no gift of personal property is valid unless conveyed by deed or will or unless the donee (or a person claiming under the donee) has and remains in actual possession;

Virginia text of the Uniform TOD Security Registration Act: only individuals whose registration shows sole ownership, or multiple ownership with right of survivorship rather than as tenants in common, may obtain…

Virginia text: a transfer on death resulting from beneficiary-form registration is effective by the contract between the owner and the registering entity and the article, and is not testamentary;

Virginia text on how a trust may be created: by transfer of property to a trustee during the settlor's lifetime (including by an agent under an expressly authorizing power of attorney) or at death, by the owner's…

Virginia text on revocation and amendment: unless the terms expressly provide that the trust is irrevocable the settlor may revoke or amend it, with rules for trusts with more than one settlor, revocation by substantial…

Virginia text: without court authorization a trustee may exercise the powers conferred by the terms of the trust and, except as the terms limit them, all powers over trust property that an unmarried competent owner has…