A reverse mortgage can allow you to tap into your 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:home equity to save you from having to sell your home or move out of it. A 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:living trust offers you more control than a will over what happens to your assets, 🐲including your home, after, or even before, you die. Sometimes it can make sense to co﷽mbine the two so you have control over your home and assets as you age.

How a Reverse Mortgage Works

A reverse mortgage is what its name implies: Instead of you paying a lender, the lender pays you. Those payments can be structured in a variety of ways, including a single lump sum, regular monthly income, or a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:line of credit that you can draw on as needed.

You or your heirs must repay the lender after you move out, sell the home, or die. How much money you might be eligible to receive from a reverse mortgage is based on the equity you have in your home, among other factors.

Under the rules for the most common type of reverse mortgage, a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果🍌体彩网:hom🎃e equity conversion mortgage (HECM), you (and any co-borrower) must be at least 62 years oඣld to qualify. If you have a spouse under age 62, they can be listed in the loan documents as an eligible non-borrowing spouse, which may allow them to stay in the home if you die or move into a nursing home.

If your co-borrower or eligible non-borrowing spouse is younger than you, their age will figure into the calculation. The older the youngest person on the mortgage is, the more money you will be🎃 able to borrow.

The reverse mortgage payments stop after you and any co-borrower die. While an eligible non-borrowing spouse can stay in the home if they meet all the requirements, they will not receive further payments.

If the heir to your home is someone other than a spouse, such as your children, they can’t keep the home unless they pay off the loan to buy it. Otherwise, their options are selling the home and paying the lender or signing over the deed to the lender.

How a Living Trust Works

A living trust is a type of trust that you create during your lifetime to manage whatever assets you decide to put into it. The trust is administered by a trustee, who can be you or someone you choose. If you name yourself a trustee, you can name a successor trustee to take over after you die or become incapacitated.

Living trusts can be either 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:revocable or irrevocable. Revocable trusts give you more control, allowing you to 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:change their terms whenever you wish. Irrevocable trusts generally can’t be changed, but they can shield your assets from 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:estate taxes and make it easier for you to 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:qualify for Medicaid benefits should you ever need them.

Irrevocable trusts are 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:more complicated and costly to set up and maintain. Also, in terms of avoiding estate taxes, it’s worth noting that federal estate taxes in 2025 only kick in when estates are valued at more than $13,990,000. In 2024, the amount is $13,610,000.

Because irrevocable trusts are less common, the terms “living trust” and “revo♓cable trust” are often used interchangeably. 

Benefits of a Living Trust

Putting your home into a living trust, rather than simply passing it on to your heirs through your will, has several potential advantages. The major one is that assets in a trust avoid the probate process. This can allow your heirs to receive the home and deal with the reverse mortgage more quickly.

A trust can also allow you to pass your home on to your heirs before you die, such as if you move out permanently into a nursing facility. You may, however, be subject to 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:gift taxes. A third potential advantage of a living trust is that it is generally more difficult to challenge than a will, in case your heirs disagree over how you divide up your assets.

Bear in mind that if the person you wish to see inherit the home (such as your spouse or a co-borrower) is already on the deed, then the home will skip probate anyway. That’s also true if you have a transfer on death deed, in states where that’s allowed. 

Combining a Reverse Mo𝐆rtgage With a Living Trust

If you꧂ have a home in a living trust, you can apply for an HECM on that home. If you have a home with an HECM, you can put that home into a living trust with the lender’s approval. Either wayꦡ, your home will receive the advantages of being in a living trust as described above.

The 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:trust beneficiary, who could be you or your spouse, must meet the requirements for taking out an HECM, such as being at least 62 years old. The trust can also have 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:contingent beneficiaries, such as🐼 your children, who 🔴don’t have to meet those requirements. When the beneficiary dies, the contingent beneficiaries inherit the trust's assets. At that point, the reverse mortgage becomes due and payable just as if it weren’t in a trust.

If you decide to dissolve the trust in the meantime, the reverse mortgage will not become due as long as one or more of the origiꦑnal borrowers still lives in the home and retains title to it.

The Bottom Line

If you have a home with a reverse mortgage, you can put it into a living trust. If your home is already in one, you can 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:obtain a reverse mortgage on it if you’re otherwise eligible. Living trusts have certain 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:advantages over wills in passing pro🐼perty to your heirs when you die; however, many people may find a living trust unnecessary.