Personal Finance: Ask the Experts: Are my assets available to my son's creditors?

Personal Finance: Ask the Experts

Get advice on money matters from The Bee's Claudia Buck and a panel of local experts

January 22, 2013

Are my assets available to my son's creditors?

Q: I have a revocable trust with my wife and son (adult) as trustees (house, cars, savings, etc.). My son is on one of my checking accounts, which is not in the trust. If my son is sued, can my monies be attached in the lawsuit? And if so, how can I stop it? -- Gary, Carmichael, CA

A: Are you the trustee of your revocable trust now? I'm not sure from your question whether your wife and son are the trustees now, or whether they are the successor trustees of your revocable trust after your death.

In any event, whether your son is a current trustee or will be a successor trustee after your death, your trust assets cannot be attached in a lawsuit against him as an individual. As trustee, your son has a fiduciary obligation to manage the trust assets for your benefit, and his creditors cannot access those funds.

As to the bank account, if both of you are named as owners and the account is not held in your trust, his creditors can reach those funds.

Since you are concerned about this possibility, I recommend that you take him off your account as a co-owner right away and change the account so that he has a power of attorney on the account instead. This way he can assist you with bill-paying, but the funds are not considered to be his and thus available to his creditors.

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Claudia Buck is The Sacramento Bee's personal finance columnist. Read all her columns here. Contact her at cbuck@sacbee.com

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