The Texas Trust Funding Checklist
The single most overlooked step in estate planning. A trust only works if your assets are properly transferred into it. Use this checklist to make sure nothing slips through the cracks.
Get the Full Checklist
Enter your email and we'll send the printable PDF version + a 6-month reminder to audit your funding.
WHY FUNDING MATTERS
An Unfunded Trust Sends Your Family Through Probate Anyway
The trust document creates the legal framework. Funding gives it teeth. If the house, the brokerage account, or the LLC is still titled in your name personally when you pass away, that asset goes through probate — exactly the outcome the trust was designed to prevent.
Probate Anyway
Unfunded assets bypass your trust and end up in probate court — public, slow, expensive.
Family Confusion
Beneficiaries are told there's a trust, but the assets aren't in it. Disputes follow.
Tax Surprises
Wrong beneficiary structures on retirement accounts can compress payouts and inflate income tax.
What to Fund — and Exactly How to Do It
Work through each category. Most clients complete the full process in 30–90 days.
CATEGORY 1
Real Estate
Texas homes, investment properties, vacation homes, and land all need to be deeded into the trust.
Step-by-Step
- 1Order a current title report or warranty deed from the county clerk
- 2Have your attorney prepare a Special Warranty Deed transferring title from you (individually) to you (as Trustee)
- 3Sign and notarize the deed
- 4Record the new deed at the county clerk's office where the property is located
- 5Notify your title insurance carrier and homeowner's insurance
- 6Update the property tax billing address if needed
PRO TIP
Texas homestead protections continue to apply when properly transferred — but the deed must be drafted carefully.
CATEGORY 2
Bank & Cash Accounts
Checking, savings, money market, and CD accounts — all retitle in the name of the trust.
Step-by-Step
- 1Bring your Trust Certification (or full trust + EIN) to the bank
- 2Complete the bank's account-retitling form
- 3Update signature cards to reflect 'You, as Trustee'
- 4Order new checks with the trust name (or keep using existing checks — your call)
- 5Update online banking access and beneficiary designations
- 6Repeat for every bank where you hold accounts
PRO TIP
Some clients choose to keep one small checking account outside the trust for day-to-day convenience. That's fine — the pour-over will catches it at death.
CATEGORY 3
Investment & Brokerage Accounts
Taxable brokerage accounts, mutual funds, and individual stock/bond holdings should be retitled.
Step-by-Step
- 1Contact your brokerage and request the trust-account-conversion paperwork
- 2Provide the Trust Certification and your trust EIN
- 3Sign the new Trust Account Agreement
- 4Confirm cost basis carries over (this is critical for capital-gains planning)
- 5Verify dividend reinvestment, margin, and option permissions still apply
- 6Update your investment advisor's records
PRO TIP
DO NOT retitle qualified retirement accounts (IRA, 401(k), 403(b)). These use beneficiary designations instead — your trust may be a contingent beneficiary, but not the primary owner.
CATEGORY 4
Business Interests
LLC membership interests, S-corp shares, partnership interests, and professional practice ownership.
Step-by-Step
- 1Review your operating agreement, bylaws, or partnership agreement for transfer restrictions
- 2Obtain consent from co-owners if required (most operating agreements need this)
- 3Execute an Assignment of Membership Interest (LLC) or stock transfer (corporation)
- 4Update the company's books and member/shareholder ledger
- 5File any required Texas Secretary of State amendment
- 6Notify your CPA — there are S-corp eligibility rules trusts must satisfy
PRO TIP
S-corporations can only be owned by certain trust types (e.g., grantor trusts during your lifetime, QSSTs, or ESBTs after death). Coordination with your tax attorney is essential.
CATEGORY 5
Personal Property & Valuables
Vehicles, jewelry, artwork, collectibles, and other tangible personal property.
Step-by-Step
- 1Sign a General Assignment of Personal Property to your trust (covers most items)
- 2For titled vehicles: usually NOT retitled (Texas has favorable transfer-on-death procedures)
- 3For titled boats/aircraft: retitle through the appropriate registry
- 4Take photos and inventory high-value items (jewelry, art) and attach to your trust schedule
- 5Update your homeowner's insurance scheduled-property rider
PRO TIP
A General Assignment is a low-friction way to sweep most household items into the trust without re-tagging each one.
CATEGORY 6
Beneficiary Designations (NOT retitled — coordinated)
Life insurance, IRAs, 401(k)s, annuities, and TOD/POD accounts pass by designation, not by trust title.
Step-by-Step
- 1List every account that passes by beneficiary designation
- 2Decide: trust as primary, contingent, or pass-through?
- 3For retirement accounts, evaluate the SECURE Act 10-year payout impact
- 4Submit updated beneficiary forms to each custodian
- 5Keep written confirmation in your trust binder
- 6Re-review every 3 years and after major life events
PRO TIP
This is where most plans go wrong. You can have a perfectly drafted trust and still have life insurance go to your ex-spouse because the beneficiary form was never updated.
AVOID THESE
The Six Most Common Trust-Funding Mistakes
We see these every month. Each one can quietly defeat a perfectly drafted trust.
Signing the trust and never funding it
An unfunded trust is just paper. Your assets still go through probate.
Forgetting beneficiary designations
Life insurance and retirement accounts override your trust unless beneficiary forms point to it.
Naming the trust as primary on an IRA without thinking
Post-SECURE Act, this can compress payouts into 10 years and trigger unintended tax. Coordinate with your CPA.
Retitling S-corp shares to a non-qualifying trust
Can blow your S-election. Use a grantor trust during life; QSST/ESBT after death.
Skipping out-of-state property
If you own a Florida condo or a New Mexico ranch, your family will face ancillary probate there. Deed everything in.
Failing to update after life changes
Marriage, divorce, new child, new business, sold property, moved states — every one of these triggers a funding review.
Trust Funding Is Not a One-Time Event
Your life keeps changing. Your funding has to keep up. Schedule a periodic review:
EVERY 3 YEARS
Routine funding audit — check every account, deed, and beneficiary form.
AFTER LIFE EVENTS
Marriage, divorce, new child, new business, sold property, moved states.
AFTER TAX-LAW CHANGES
Federal estate-tax exemption shifts and SECURE Act updates can require restructuring.
Trust Funding — Frequently Asked Questions
Want Us to Handle the Funding for You?
Our Trust Funding Service handles the deeds, the brokerage retitling, the business assignments, and the beneficiary updates — so you can focus on your life, not your paperwork. Schedule a 30-minute funding review to see what's left to do.