We have trusts, with brokerage accounts titled in the trust. We moved our computershare stocks into fidelity trust accounts, and even that wasn’t easy.
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Trusts are not for private wait times. They are to avoid, including any challenges etc.
From Met Life below
To answer your other question our docs are from when the kids are young. It’s 20+ years and a different state. We should likely get them redone but haven’t planned to do so at this time. I need to add it to the to do list.
As mentioned above, the largest differences between wills and living trusts are what they include and how they’re managed. A will is strictly concerned with what happens to your assets after you die but doesn’t house your assets in the meantime. On the other hand, a living trust holds your assets until a predetermined time and provides instructions for how they’ll be managed and distributed. Additionally, wills are subject to probate court. This means, while you may have outlined how you want your assets to be distributed, the decision is still ultimately up to the court. A living trust typically allows you to bypass probate court and distribute your assets exactly how you wish.
note the operative word in bold…in the US, anyone can challenge anything, including Wills and trusts.
That said, unless you are an A-Lister that requires privacy in your affairs, trusts can be a great advantage for states were probate is slow (like CA) or expensive. In other words, not much need for a Trust in a state where probate is fast and cheap.
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Thanks for the input. I’ve heard bad things about Computershare/beneficiary hassles (but one of the stories came from a FA who could have had ulterior motives).
Interestingly I had a reasonably easy time with my mother’s Computershare stock when I was her executor. She was not wealthy, but she was diversified. Of her many small assets, the Computershare stock (regular, not employee purchase) was the only asset where she did not have beneficiary assigned. I did not know that ahead of time - I was worried about the fact that original 25 shares were still paper, other 75 shares from splits electronic. The main challenge was that Computershare requires Medallion certification (a special kind of super-notary process), and during early Covid it was tricky arranging bank appointments. Medallion is what adds complication for my elderly Dad… still possible, but not easy. Also he worries about not being able to provide cost basis (but I think a cpa could find a way to guesstimate… and at 15% capital gains not too big a concern).
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We got ours in CA. Anyone of wealth I know in CA and Nevada have them. Tons in Tennessee too.
It seems the wealthy have in general - at least in places where I live.
My friend in NJ has one as well but her husband passed in 9/11 and there was another husband (no longer) and a second kid. So perhaps it’s the situation.
Even my VP friend in Ridgefield CT has one but got when living in NC.
All situations are different I suppose - all do what’s best for them.
Honestly I was just raised with - you need a trust.
Like many things we all believe, it emanates from our upbringing.
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CA is one of those states where probate can take a long time just to get a hearing with the probate judge. Court fees are nbd, but wait time can be, so Trusts are highly recommended for most with even with just a personal residence (and just regular middle class).
Dunno about Nevada probate…
Trusts are also beneficial to protect assets from your heirs’ spouses, and protect for grandkids. But anyone with “wealth” (however defined) definitely should engage a trusts/estates lawyer.
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Reminder - IF you decide to set up a trust, do be sure to do the paperwork at each asset (if not already covered correctly with beneficiary designation) to associate the Trust.
When we had offer of services to create at Trust, FA explained that Pour Over will is also part of it…. in case something gets missed. (And he said often times assets do get missed, especially if there are investment changes made in later years)
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Currently I own our children’s 529 accounts and dh is the successor owner. Our youngest will turn 18 soon. Is there any reason not to make the beneficiary the successor owner? Dh is okay with change.
We had made adjustments in late fall/January. Upped gold and fixed income securities a bit. So, no adjustments in the spring.
Both of our FAs did financial plans. One was updated at the end of May. I had missed this so went over the assumptions about spending. Mostly pretty solid. One thing that came out was that one of our biggest expenses is what we pay to the FAs. I have always been to busy making money ot manage it with care. But I wonder if I should just set aside a core of ETF holdings and leave them alone and not pay a fee on those.
Yes, us too decades ago. Bought the trust with a PennySaver coupon – $300 I think. You certainly wouldn’t call us wealthy. It was amended several times over the years as our circumstances changed and children were added to the equation (then grew up).
Thing is, that PennySaver trust held up well over the years. We did a major revamp last year (cost much more than $300 
) with an excellent trust attorney.
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So when you amend or revamp a trust, I assume the name (and number, if there is one?) stays same. Do you need to go back and re-associate assets to the newly dated trust? Or is it just tracked by trust name?
like nearly everything, it depends!
But my folks just Amended their Trust with an Amendment number, and referenced teh original. Amendment #1 of Blue FAmilly Trust: Page 3, Section 2, Paragraph 5: delete xxx and insert yyy. Sign and notarize or witnesses, depending on your state laws.
A simple naming might be ‘Colorado Mom Family Trust, dated July 5, 2025.’
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Ours are identified by name and the names have stayed the same for several amendments, even in a different state. There has been no need to retitle any assets since the assets were put into the trusts decades ago.
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Our current trust is the “Second Restatement of the ___ Family Living Trust, August XX, 2018” so no assets need to be re-titled.
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So my takeaways from recent posts…
1- Trusts, cars and financial planning are complicated. They have this in common.
2- It is worth seeking out experts such as lawyers, qualified mechanics and trained financial planners given the importance and complexity of these matters.
Personally, I would much rather have a local (but trained mechanic) service my car then personally handle my own legal or financial affairs without training or support. At least the non dealer mechanic works on cars for a living versus the complete amateur trying to “play” lawyer or financial planner. The mechanic knows their limitations and what they don’t know, while the pretend lawyer/CFP is completely oblivious to their blind spots.
Different strokes for different folks.
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The name of the trust remained the same with new verbiage following it, something like “as restated and amended (maybe the new date, I don’t remember).”
We did re-associate the assets, mostly because it’s been a long time since the original trust in 1992 and things have changed since then.
Again, our 2024 estate attorney was top notch. She helped make the trust into a document that fits us and our heirs.
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The key to financial and legal knowledge is to know enough to ask the right questions, detect bs and choose the right lawyer/adviser. On the car mechanic, the one class that I was a total failure in was “shop”. Here I rely on friends who recommend good reasonable mechanics for service after initial warranties run out.
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I would add pool maintenance to this list.
Although at this point, Im confident I could get an associates degree in pool chemistry.
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For car issues I do a lot of online research before I take it for service. There are forums by make, model and year. Don’t take advice as gospel but it gives a good idea of whether others have had the same issue and what the fix was and if there are any common attempts to recommend more service than was needed.
This saved me $$$ when my van was showing a very specific code that multiple people said the common service by the dealer was to recommend an expensive engine fix vs replace the spark plugs and then see what happens. I can’t explain the issue but when the dealer service recommended what they said - I asked about spark plugs. Response was could do that but couldn’t guarantee wouldn’t need other within 6 months. I said I’d wait. They mentioned I really should do it because of the mileage of my van but hadn’t looked back in their own records far enough to see that they had put in a new engine at 80,000 miles a few years before due to a recall. Luckily I knew that. So it can save $$ to really know your vehicle.
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Our Honda dealer didn’t have service records from before the dealership changed hands. And of course did not mention that when making suggestions. My 2006 Odyssey had 102K miles, and they were recommending 90k timing belt service. Looking back at my paperwork, I could see we had done it at 80K. Granted that was was 10 years prior, but the car had experienced very light duty since. When I sold it to a friend (who will drive it around town a few thousand miles a year), I gave her all the paperwork… explained the situation in case she went to the dealer.
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