858.792.5988

Serving San Diego for over 35 Years

Clients, Colleagues, and Friends,

I retired on Dec. 31, 2019, and officially closed my office, after 42 years of practicing law. I thank you all for your confidence in me and your friendship over the years. My colleague David Dufek who has shared the suite with me for the past two years is taking over my practice and will have all client files. Not only will David be taking over the practice, he remains in the suite and is taking over my fax and phone lines. You are free to leave your files with David or pick them up. David's practice like mine includes will, trusts, and probate, as well as personal injury work. He also does landlord - tenant work and debtor - creditor matters including bankruptcy.

I wish you all the best.

Alex

Can We Refinance Our House? It’s Titled in the Name of Our Trust?

With mortgage rates at historic lows, we have been getting asked this question quite a bit:  “Can we refinance our house that’s titled in the name of our trust?”  The answer is:  Absolutely!  Contact your estate planning attorney if are not sure how your house is titled.

By all means, apply for the new loan.  The bank will conduct a title search and see that the house is titled in the name of your trust.  Many banks are okay with this and will give you the loan just as if the house was in your individual name or joint names with your spouse.

Other banks don’t fully understand the workings of a Revocable Living Trust or are skittish for some other reason.  Don’t let that stop you, if that bank has the best rate and other terms.  Simply transfer the house out of the trust to your joint names and then transfer it back into the name of your trust after the new loan is in place.  Your estate planning attorney can draft and file the deeds for you.  Be sure that the house goes back into the Trust; it is worth the filing and attorney fees to stick with your original estate planning goals such as asset protection and tax savings.

Refinances are the leading reason that houses get out of proper trust title.  This is simple to correct if both owners are alive and well.  If there has been a disability or death of one of the owners, the transfer is doable but not as easily.

If you have any questions about how the title of your house affects refinancing or have any general trust funding questions, please feel free to contact our office.  We’d be happy to chat with you.  858-792-5988.