Illinois house trust & certificate of deposit

My Mom has her house in trust, listing only me (I have an older sister that Mom wants to exclude - previous will divided everything equally between the two of us).

The certificate of deposit that had my sister's name on it has been cashed in. The only one left has Mom's and my name on it.
Mom and I share a checking account also.

Is this legally sound to leave this as is and not expect any legal problems from my sister? Mom is in her late 80's and I don't want to cause anything unnecessary or concern to her now.

I've been living with Mom for a couple of years now and am very concerned about the future and if there is something I should guard against now. Thank you.

Did you say your mom has a 'living trust'? Given her goal to disinherit a daughter, this is a good alternative to transferring property through the probate process with a will -- a trust is far more difficult to challenge than a Will. It's also a good idea to specifically state in the trust (and will) that she intentionally excludes your sister, so that sieter cannot argue that it was unintentional.

Make sure your mom also has a will that pours all assets into the living trust so that any assets still in her sole name, either by mistake or arising at death, will pass according to the trust's terms, and not state law.

Unless your mom or you are concerned up income tax basis, estate taxes or your creditors, then joint tenancy should work work for you. But note that there are those drawbacks and if she does have a living trust, that may be the preferable way to own the assets.

You can check out my site below for a list of the potential problems with joint tenancy and the benefits of living trusts.
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Jeffrey R. Gottlieb, Attorney at Law
[email protected] http://www.illinoisestateplan.com