In Valdez, Alaska, a trust is an arrangement in which property is held by one person (the trustee) for the benefit of another (the beneficiary).

A trust can be set up for just about any reason. One of the most frequent reasons is to ensure that a person consistently has enough money to avoid going broke, but not enough that they can avoid getting a job, or spend all of the money on things they don't need. This can be accomplished by drafting a trust agreement so that only authorizes the beneficiary to access a limited portion of the money per week, or per month.

If you are a trustee, you can authorize the beneficiary to access the trust under any conditions you see fit (or make it unconditional, if you want). The point is that, if you make sure the trust agreement is well-constructed, you can help the beneficiary in any way you like, secure in the knowledge that they won't be able (or will find it extremely difficult) to spend it on things you don't approve of.

The trust can also be set up to authorize the beneficiary to spend as much of the money in it on anything they like. Of course, few people do this, because the trust isn't likely to last very long under such an arrangement, especially if the beneficiary is a teenager or young adult.

What to Include in Any Valdez, AK Trust

There are 4 distinct elements that must be present for any trust to be valid in Valdez, Alaska. The first element is the purpose - in drafting a trust document, the purpose that the trust is serving must be stated.

Second, there must be a trustee. This is the person who will administer the trust, and retain possession of the property or money that it contains, as well as being responsible for using it to effectuate the trust's purpose.

Third, the trust needs to have a named beneficiary. The beneficiary is the person who benefits from the trust.

Fourth and finally, the trust must include what is known as the "corpus" or "body." The corpus is the money and/or property which is being held in trust. For a trust to be valid, the corpus must be clearly identified.

Can A Valdez, Alaska Trust Drafting Attorney Help?

While its' easy to list the basic elements that need to be present for a trust to be valid, the actual process of setting up a trust can be a little convoluted. For that reason, seeking the counsel of a brilliant Valdez, Alaska attorney to help you set up a trust is probably a good idea.