Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Transfer of Real Property to a Trust

No.

Re: Transfer of Real Property to a Trust

A trust must have a trustee or a provision for appointing a trustee. Short-term vacancy in the office of trustee will not necessarily terminate the trust, however. In the absence of a trustee and a means to select a trustee, a court may appoint a trustee.

In answering your question, three missing pieces of information seem essential: (1) does the trust now exist, or is it something you've yet to set up? (2) is it, or will it be, revocable or irrevocable? and (3) what purposes are you trying to accomplish?

You can set up a trust, or perhaps modify an existing trust, to show someone else as trustee, but you would probably lose control to a significant and perhaps undesired degree.

As to the practice of using personal names in the title of a trust, I believe it is conventional but not absolutely necessary to use the name of the beneficiary in the title of an irrevocable trust, and the name of the settlor (trustor) in the title of a revocable trust. This helps immeasurably to identify the trust for the benefit of those who must deal with it, such as banks, insurance companies, stockbrokers and the like. It is not usual to put the name of the trustee in the trust's title, but of course in many revocable trusts the trustor and the trustee are the same person.

As a more general issue, I wonder why anyone would object to their name appearing in the title or text of a trust instrument. This suggests a possible attempt to conceal assets from creditors. While concealing assets is sometimes defensible and proper, in most instances it is either arguably or downright fraudulent.

If "asset protection" is a major motivation to keep your name out of prominence in the trust document's title, you need to discuss this with a trust or asset-protection specialist. Do-it-yourself asset protection often backfires because it is ineffective, illegal or both. An expert who is both scrupulous and careful will be worth the investment.