After you create a living trust, you must transfer assets into the trust in order to get the advantages of probate avoidance and incapacity planning. Even years after a trust is created, new assets might be acquired and not titled properly, so you need to be diligent.
Just about anything except a car and a personal checking account can go into a living trust. In addition, tax-deferred retirement accounts, including IRAs, can’t be held in a trust.
That last exclusion can cause problems. Especially if you rely heavily on a large IRA, which can’t be held in a living trust, it’s important to have a power of attorney in place and to be sure this power will be recognized by the IRA custodian. If you become incompetent, your agent will have access to the IRA via the power of attorney.
