Trusts - Annuities, Insurance and Real Estate Issues

Q. My husband and I have 2 homes with an estimated value of $1 million, we'd like to put the homes in a real estate trust and credit shelter one of the homes with a life estate for the remaining spouse. Can this be done under one trust or do we need two separate real estate trusts? I'm tempted to use an online kit and have the document reviewed by a lawyer but im finding it hard to select a reputable one.

Also .. can my retirement annuity be placed in a trust upon my death or is an annuity always a separate entitity.

we are not sure if our life insurance can go into a living trust as well??

A. I am not sure what you mean when you are referring to a 'real estate' trust.

Can you tell me more about what you are trying to accomplish?

Do you have children that these assets will eventually pass to after you both die?

You cannot transfer the retirement annuity into a trust. In other words, the trust cannot be the owner of a pre-tax account. On the other hand, you can have the payment from the annuity (since it will be subject to income tax anyway) go into a trust checking account.

Life insurance will avoid probate by passing to a beneficiary, but it isn't a problem to have a properly drafted trust be the beneficiary of your life insurance policy.

Your posted comments on this and other questions are welcome.
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