Treasury Direct allows owners of treasury bills, bonds and savings bonds to hold everything in an on-line account without the hassle of the paper bonds or bills. The only problem is that accounts titled in the name of a living trust are not allowed, only individual accounts.
I often have clients with lots (thousands and thousands of dollars) of savings bonds. The only way to get the bonds into their living trust is to use for pdf 1851 to transfer the bonds to the living trust. All the bonds must be sent to the treasury main office and then the paper bonds are re-registered in the name of the trust. This is kind of an unnecessary hassle in this electronic age.
I would not suggest leaving more than $100,000.00 in a Treasury Direct account because it will cause a probate upon the account owner’s death. It really would be nice if they allowed living trusts to own these accounts.
