t bills — beneficiary or trust?

Terry Says

Well, first, did you purchase Treasury bills or I-bonds? There’s a big difference in how to handle them.
If you purchased T-bills, when they mature in 6 months, let the money drop back into your account. Then open a new account at TreasuryDirect in the name of your Revocable Living Trust, link it to a bank account for the trust, and make all future Treasury bills out of that account.

But if you purchased I-bonds with high rates last fall ($10,000 max is my tipoff it was Ibonds), then you don’t want to change them or youll lose that high base rate.
Instead name a beneficiary for those bonds. You’ll do it inside your TreasuryDirect account, using the “manage direct” tab, and following these instructions:

Before editing the registration of your securities held in your TreasuryDirect account, you need to check your registration list to determine if the desired registration is available. Adding a new registration is simple, but there are a few rules:

1. Registrations can only be added to individual TreasuryDirect® accounts.
2. You can add new registrations in your name alone, your name with a secondary owner, or your name with a beneficiary.
3. For gift savings bonds, you can use the same forms, but you can only be named on them as a beneficiary. (You can’t buy marketable securities as gifts.)
4. Each registrant’s social security number must be shown.

To add a registration to your Registration List:

1. Access your TreasuryDirect account.
2. Click the ManageDirect® tab at the top of the page.
3. Under the heading Manage My Account, click Update my Registration List.
4. Click Add Registration to display the next page.
5. Choose the type of registration you want: Sole Owner, Primary Owner, or Beneficiary.
6. Enter the name(s) and social security number(s) in the spaces provided. (If you are buying the security for yourself, you must be the “First-Named Registrant.” If you are buying the savings bond as a gift for someone else, you have two choices: leave your name off or list yourself as beneficiary.)
7. If you want this registration to appear at the top of your Registration List when using BuyDirect®, check the box for Make this my preferred registration.
8. If savings bonds with this registration are gifts, check the box beside This is a gift.
9. Click Submit to complete the process.

The registration you just created will appear in the Registration List where you can choose it when making purchases with BuyDirect or editing the registration of existing securities held in your account..

To add a secondary owner or beneficiary to your securities:

1. Click the ManageDirect tab at the top of the page.
2. Under the heading Manage My Securities click “Edit” a registration.
3. On the Edit Security Registration page, choose the security type you want to edit and click “Submit”.
4. On the Summary page, choose the security or securities you wish to edit and click “Select” (you may edit up to 50 securities to the same registration).
5. On the Detail page, select the registration containing the secondary owner or beneficiary you desire from the drop-down box. Note: Entity accounts may only have one registration. All securities in an entity account carry a registration identical to the entity account name.
6. Once you’ve selected the desired registration, click “Submit” to complete the change in registration for the security.