Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Washington

Re: sell living trust properties

Let me throw in some issues, which, hopefully, will persuade you to seek the advice of an estate planning attorney.

You write of setting up a trust. You also write of several rentals. If these are in King County your estate is probably at the very least close to or above the estate tax threshold. Are you going to be setting up a revocable or irrevocable trust? Will it have Credit Shelter provisions? You also may find that one or more LLCs make more sense for the rentals, to both offset liability and to provide an avenue of discounted gifting.

Finally, with respect to your income tax questions, it depends on the provisions of the trust but typically an alternate trustee is named in the trust and that individuals takes charge of the taxes and the distribution of trust assets at the time of death of the Trustor.

Seriously, at the very least consult with an estate planning attorney for 1/2 hour to an hour to at least get a better picture of the potential benefits and pitfalls of setting up the trust.

Re: sell living trust properties

You are asking some questions of which the answers will have fairly profound consequences for your estate and for your children.

If it isn't fairly clear that you are not going to get free estate planning on line, let me be clearer:

If you own several pieces of rental property in King County, you would be best served by hiring and paying an estate planning attorney to do your trust work for you. That person will be in the best possible position, after having learned about the specifics of your situation, to draft a trust that will address your needs and shelter your assets in a manner best calculated to take advantage of Washington's trust and estate law.

I apologize in advance if this is not particularly helpful, but you have not given enough information to provide helpful answers, and you clearly have the wherewithal to hire counsel.

Powell