Bank accounts and investment portfolios are often the core of a family’s financial life. Yet when it comes to trust funding, these assets are also the ones most likely to be overlooked or improperly titled.
If accounts are not retitled into your revocable living trust, your successor trustee cannot manage them, and they may be forced into probate court — even if you created a trust.
This guide explains which accounts should be transferred into your trust, which should not, and how to avoid the common mistakes that cause trust failure.
(If you haven’t learned about the dangers of unfunded trusts, read: “Why Most Trusts Fail: The Shocking Truth About Unfunded Trusts.”)
⭐ Why Bank & Investment Accounts Must Be Retitled
A trust only controls assets that are actually transferred into it.
If your financial accounts remain titled in your personal name, then:
❌ Your trust does nothing for those accounts
❌ Your trustee cannot manage them
❌ Your family must go through probate
❌ Beneficiaries may receive funds too early
❌ Your instructions within the trust cannot be followed
Proper titling is essential.
(For a complete roadmap, see Anchor Post #2: “How to Properly Fund Your Trust.”)
⭐ Which Accounts Should Go Into Your Trust?
Below is a simple breakdown of the most common financial accounts and how they should be handled.
✔ 1. Checking & Savings Accounts
These everyday accounts should almost always be retitled into your trust.
Reasons:
- Ensures your trustee can access funds immediately
- Avoids delays in paying bills or funeral expenses
- Prevents probate
- Preserves privacy
How they are retitled:
“John and Sarah Lewis” → “John and Sarah Lewis, Trustees of the Lewis Family Trust dated… ”
(TrustFully provides titling instructions and institution-specific help.)
✔ 2. Certificates of Deposit (CDs)
CDs can also be placed in your trust. However, some banks impose penalties for changing ownership during the CD term.
Best practice:
- Request that the bank retitle the CD at maturity
- Or, break the CD only if necessary (bank policies vary)
✔ 3. Money Market Accounts & High-Yield Savings
These behave like checking/savings accounts and should also be retitled into the trust.
✔ 4. Brokerage & Investment Accounts
Your non-retirement investment accounts should be transferred into the trust.
These include:
- Stocks
- Bonds
- Mutual funds
- Index funds
- ETFs
- Treasury securities
- Managed portfolios
Why?
Because they are often the largest non-real-estate assets, and keeping them outside your trust forces your executor to go through probate.
What changes?
When retitled:
- The tax ID usually remains your Social Security Number
- Your ability to trade or invest does not change
- Cost basis does not change
- You maintain full control
Only the legal owner changes—from you personally to your trust.
✔ 5. Joint Accounts
Joint accounts require special consideration.
If the joint owner is your spouse:
These accounts typically should be retitled into your joint trust.
If the joint owner is not your spouse:
Be cautious.
Transferring these accounts into your trust may unintentionally give the other joint owner rights in the trust.
In many cases, joint accounts with non-spouses should be dissolved or restructured.
TrustFully assists families with these decisions to prevent accidental complications.
✔ 6. Cash, Emergency Funds & Physical Currency
Cash stored at home or in a safe does not get “retitled,” but can be transferred into the trust by:
- Depositing it into a trust-titled account, or
- Documenting it in your personal property memorandum
Unreported or undocumented cash frequently causes disputes and probate delays.
Your trustee needs clarity.
⭐ Which Accounts Should Not Go Into Your Trust?
Some accounts are better handled through beneficiary designations.
❌ 1. Retirement Accounts (401k, IRA, Roth IRA)
These should not be titled into your trust — doing so creates tax penalties and violates IRS rules.
Instead, update your beneficiary designations.
Typical structure for parents with minors:
- Primary Beneficiary: Spouse
- Contingent Beneficiary: Your trust
This ensures minor children do not inherit retirement funds directly.
(See detailed guidance in Post A4: “Retirement Accounts: Why You Almost Never Put Them Into a Trust.”)
❌ 2. Health Savings Accounts (HSAs)
These also cannot be retitled to a trust, but beneficiary designations should be updated.
❌ 3. Annuities
Some annuities can name a trust as beneficiary, but titling them into the trust is rarely appropriate.
⭐ Common Mistakes When Funding Bank & Investment Accounts
❌ Mistake 1: Leaving the largest accounts outside the trust
Families often retitle their home but forget the investment accounts that hold most of their wealth.
❌ Mistake 2: Assuming adding a child as joint owner is a “cheap alternative”
This frequently leads to:
- IRS gift-tax issues
- Creditors gaining access
- Disinheritance of other children
- Loss of step-up in basis
Joint ownership is not estate planning.
❌ Mistake 3: Only changing beneficiaries
A trust and beneficiary designations serve different purposes.
Beneficiaries don’t help with:
- Incapacity
- Real estate management
- Financial oversight
- Long-term protections
- Minor children
Your trust needs ownership of the accounts, not just a spot on a form.
❌ Mistake 4: Forgetting to fund new accounts
People often fund their initial accounts—but then open a new bank or investment account years later and forget to title it to the trust.
If it’s not in the trust → probate applies.
TrustFully brings all accounts together with an organized funding plan.
⭐ How TrustFully Makes Funding Easy
TrustFully removes the confusion and frustration from financial account funding.
We provide:
✔ Institution-specific instructions
✔ Beneficiary designation review
✔ Pre-filled forms where available
✔ Coordination with financial advisors
✔ A complete funding checklist
✔ Verification that each account was completed correctly
This eliminates the #1 cause of trust failure.
⭐ Final Thoughts: Your Trust Only Works If Your Accounts Are Properly Funded
For most families, financial accounts make up the majority of their estate.
If they are not properly titled:
- Probate is required
- Trustees cannot access funds
- Children may inherit too early
- Your carefully drafted trust becomes ineffective
A trust without account funding is a car with no engine.
TrustFully ensures every asset is aligned and fully protected.
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