Trust Funding and Beneficiary Designation FAQs
Answers to common questions about funding a trust, naming beneficiaries, coordinating financial accounts, IRAs, life insurance, and transfer-on-death designations.
Why is trust funding so important?
Should my IRA name my trust as beneficiary?
Should my 401(k) name my trust as beneficiary?
Should my regular investment account be owned by my trust?
Should my bank accounts be titled in my trust?
Should my life insurance name my trust as beneficiary?
What should my financial advisor do after I sign a trust?
What happens if I forget to fund my trust?
Casey Connealy helped us with our will and estate planning. He is thorough, knowledgeable and fun!

Chris and his staff have been very accommodating, answering every question, e-mail or phone call in a timely manner. They made our Estate planning easy and comfortable.

“Chris and his staff were awesome to work with. I felt like I was their only client with the personal attention and time they spent with me setting up a trust. Chris did an excellent job of making sure I understood everything I needed to and things were being set up for our families specific needs and desires. I look forward to having Chris continue to be our estate planning attorney.”

“Chris and his staff have been very accommodating, answering every question, e-mail or phone call in a timely manner. They made our Estate planning easy and comfortable-no question unanswered or looked down upon. Thank you, all.”

“Chris and his team led us through what we felt was a complicated process in a very organized manner. Everything was explained to our satisfaction and then our decisions were executed quickly. All we had to do was sign documents. Most important, the after support has been excellent. If we have a question, the answer is always…..let us take care of that for you! Everyone in this firm is unpretentious, helpful and very knowledgeable.”

“For about 10 years my husband and I kept saying, “we need to prepare a trust or a will. We had already planned and paid for our funerals but trying to figure out the will or trust was overwhelming to us. We received an invitation in the mail to attend a seminar. After meeting with Chris we both agreed that Chris and his firm were whom we wanted to execute our Trust documents.”

“My wife and I took advantage of the free evening program put on by Gaughan and Connealy back in 2013 and later hired Chris Gaughan to do our estate planning. First thing that sold us was not only Chris’s professionalism, but his knowledge and his passion for what he does. The process was very easy and thorough. Chris brought up scenarios/issues that were unforeseen but were important to have in our plans. “

“Casey Connealy helped us with our will and estate planning. He is thorough, knowledgeable and fun!”

“Chris knows his “stuff.” He reviewed all of my documents and gave me a “clean bill of health.” I appreciated him taking the time to go over everything with me and his offer of help in the future.”

“We hired Chris Gaughan to provide us with an updated will, proper terminology to transfer our home to our surviving children without probate and updated living wills. What he provided was much much more – many helpful documents, tips and a comprehensive planner to keep track of important papers and directions to our survivors.”

“Chris and his team run a great firm. They are professional, attentive, smart and like working with friends. I am very impressed with my 2 dealings with them. One was my living will/estate and the other was a wrong doing (by a different attorney) that they made RIGHT! I highly recommend Chris and his team!”

“Chris provided a very thorough review of our trust and did a complete re-statement of the entire trust documents. New and useful components were added, as well as appropriate changes made to update and enhance the contents. We are very happy with all of this and with Chris as our lawyer. We highly recommend him as a trusted partner in planning and instigating valued materials to make this process smooth and easy for us and for our family. We feel that Chris is the best!”

“Our experience with Mr. Gaughan was excellent!! He got right down to business, asked the right questions, and got the work done for us in two sessions. Because he has expertise with trusts, and the law, he could anticipate problems we might encounter, and gave a good, clear explanation as to why he was including information and procedures in the trust that we would never have considered.”

“We recently engaged the services of Chris Gaughan, of the firm Gaughan & Connealy, to write a complete estate plan. The work was completed in a timely and efficient manner by Chris and his staff in truly exemplary professional fashion, exceeding our expectations. We recommend the legal services of Chris Gaughan without reservation.”

“I had foolishly procrastinated on planning my estate. Had I known how easy the process could be, I would have done this much sooner. I cannot express how efficient Chris and his staff made this process. The entire experience was friendly and professional Five star all the way.”

