Do you want to be in charge of your own bank account? If your answer is a resounding “yes!” then you need to have your bank account titled into your Life Trust. If your bank account is in your own name alone, then, as soon as you get sick and can’t go to the bank, or get confused and can’t balance your account, you’re in trouble. The banker will tell you: “just put someone else’s name on the account!” But doing so without the protection of your Life Trust is giving your money away. Your bank account becomes the property of that other person. That other person would have to come into the bank in order for you to remove them from the account.
Even if the other person is your husband or wife, the same rule applies – by all means have both names on the account. But use the Life Trust, for flexibility and control. If you were both sick, your Life Trust can name another trustee to take over. After you’re gone, your Trustee can settle the account with the rest of your estate, instead of having to disentangle it from someone else’s property first.can