Feature Announcement: Joint Revocable Trust for Common Law States

We are excited to announce that we now offer the ability for married members in common law states to draft Joint Revocable Trusts.

Wealth.com always seeks to provide meaningful solutions to our advisor partners and their clients. We have offered Joint Revocable Trusts to our members in community property states since our launch. Based on the demand for this feature in other jurisdictions, we have partnered with advisors and our legal experts to expand this feature to common law states.

For members who are unsure what type of Trust document makes sense for them, the Wealth.com platform has an embedded intelligence layer to help members select the Trust type that best suits their needs, including the member’s state of residence and marital status. For example, for married couples in community property states (AZ, CA, ID, LA, NV, NM, TX, WA, and WI), a joint revocable trust might be most appropriate to simplify the administration of their community property.

For couples living in common law states (all other states), it may be most appropriate to prepare two individual revocable trusts. Traditionally, estate planning attorneys in common law states prefer for couples to sign two individual revocable trusts for three main reasons:

1. When each spouse has their own trust, this increases the flexibility for each person to uncouple decisions regarding trustees, beneficiaries, and assets to be transferred into the trust. This can be particularly important for blended families or couples established later in life.

2. A joint trust can create confusion over asset ownership for income tax reporting and opens the possibility of inconsistent income tax filings, which the IRS may not respect upon audit.

3. The probate and trust administration process may be more efficient if only one person’s trust is involved at that person’s death. For example, if there is an issue about the validity of the document or someone sues the estate of the first spouse to die, the estate plan of the surviving spouse will not be implicated.

However, circumstances and priorities vary, and some use cases warrant the need for a joint revocable trust regardless of your state. We are pleased to now deliver this to our members.

Our platform is designed to guide members to make decisions based on their own unique needs, including the proprietary evaluation form to understand what documents are appropriate. Members that would like additional platform support or education can also speak with our success team through phone, chat, or email (support@wealth.com). For those that are in need of legal advice, they may choose to consult with an attorney through Wealth.com’s preferred network at any time.

Additional Information: Please note that at this time, members in Georgia and New York are not able to create Joint Revocable Trust, but this capability will be coming soon and you can always reach out to your Partner Success Manager for more information.