Funding

Also called: Funding a trust.

What it means

Minnesota’s trust code carries no defined term “funding” and no section headed with the word. It uses the verb in passing — § 501C.0602(b) opens “[i]f a revocable trust is created or funded by more than one settlor” — and describes the underlying act elsewhere: property changing hands, or changing capacity, so that a trustee holds it. Section 501C.0401(a) gives three routes — a transfer to another person as trustee, a declaration by an owner that the owner holds identifiable property as trustee, or the exercise of a power of appointment in favor of a trustee.

Note the adjective in the second route. The statute says a declaration by the owner that the owner holds “identifiable property” as trustee, not simply property.

Paragraph (c) says where everything else ends up.

Every legal estate and interest not embraced in an express trust and not otherwise disposed of remains in the settlor.

Where the word shows up

In the deed, the assignment, the beneficiary change form, and the new account application — the paperwork that follows the signing appointment and frequently never gets done. A signed trust instrument is a set of instructions for property held by the trustee. It does not reach an account that still lists an individual owner and no trust.

The evidence a bank or title company wants for that transfer is usually a certificate of trust under § 501C.1013, which is why the two subjects arrive together: the certificate proves who may sign for the trust, and the transfer is what gives the trust something to sign about.