On Friday, October 28th, Ms. Candice Joy describes what happens when your spouse passes and you have a trust.

What happens when a spouse passes away when there is a joint trust. One trust comes into play only once there has been an initial death. Another everything just passes to the other spouse with a joint trust upon the first death.

When all passes to the survivor’s trust it can be very simple. However if all the assets are titled in the SSN of the first spouse who passed away, you’ll need to change everything over with the financial institution.

Another important task is to complete an appraisal if there is a step up in basis. Also, filing an estate tax return to avoid tax liability.

A complex issue is when clients want to include an entire house into a survivor’s trust as there are extra steps that need to be taken.

Submit your question

Bring your questions about estate planning and administration to our weekly Facebook Live with Mr. Berger on Fridays at 11am EST. Leave your email if you’d like to receive a notification of our response.