Myth #2: My trust will eliminate the need for me to have a will and my estate to go through probate.
If you form a revocable trust, the most important next steps is to fund your new trust. Funding your trust will mean different steps for different assets, but generally it involves re-titling your assets to be held in the name of your trust instead of by you personally.
Despite your best efforts, there will likely always be things that are not held in your trust when you die. These assets still must be sorted out through the probate process with your state. If you have not signed a will because you had a trust, all of these assets will pass to whomever the state determines should receive them in accordance with state law. The state will not take these assets, but they may not end up where you intended.
For this reason, it is very important to also sign a will when you sign your trust. Often the will you sign will be a “pour-over” will, which is meant to catch any assets that weren’t in your trust when you died and “pour” them into your trust. Then your trust will distribute them, or hold them as you instructed.
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