If you are a California resident looking to buy real property in a state other than California, and you’re going to remain a California resident, you probably should still transfer it into your revocable living trust. Let’s use Nevada as an example, because “Nevada” is easier to write than “Out of state.”
So, you’re looking to buy a Nevada property, you’re going to remain a California resident, and you have a California Revocable Living Trust. I would:
- Check with a Nevada attorney that this is what you should be doing (I can’t speak to Nevada laws.) This attorney would tell you whether there are any issues with your trust owning this NV property.
- If they confirm that you should be putting your property into the trust, or at least there’s no obvious reasons not to, then tell your realtor and/or title company that you’d like to take title as Trustee of your Trust.
- If they don’t do that because they can’t or they forgot, then you go back to your NV attorney and ask them to transfer this property that you now own in your name into your Trust (this is not something I can do for you, as I’m not licensed in Nevada).
- Think about your California estate planning. Does the acquisition of this new property change the way you want your trust estate distributed on your death? If yes, contact me to amend your trust. If no, there’s nothing else for you to do. Congratulations, you have a new real property and you’ve taken care of your estate planning!