A revocable trust is a trust that can be revoked, dispersed or altered once created. As a trustee of a trust, you can sell trust property back to yourself or a third party. You’ll need to appraise the value of the property and obtain a legally recognized instrument to document the transaction. As with any sale or purchase, it is best to store all trust documents in a trust portfolio for safe keeping.
Print an "Agreement for Sale and Purchase" (see Resources). Identify the parties involved. The trustee of the trust is the seller. The party receiving trust property is the buyer.
Provide a legal description of the property to be sold. Visit a county courthouse to obtain a legal description of real estate in your county of residence.
Enter the property’s fair market value. Real estate, automobiles and other high value assets require an appraisal report from a certified appraiser. Visit the Kelley Blue Book website for online appraisals of vehicles (see Resources).
Describe the nature of the transaction. For example, “For value received, the seller of [enter seller’s physical address, city, state, zip code], do hereby assign to buyer of [enter buyer’s physical address, city, state, zip code] the property described.” This kind of language is inherent in many forms.
Sign and date the Agreement for Sale and Purchase in front of a notary public. Only a trustee can create and authorize an Agreement for Sale and Purchase.
Relinquish the property to the buyer.
References
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Charlie Gaston has written numerous instructional articles on topics ranging from business to communications and estate planning. Gaston holds a bachelor's degree in international business and a master's degree in communications. She is fluent in Spanish and has extensive travel experience.