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

Trusts can serve any number of purposes. They can be set up to ensure that the child has a college fund, or to see that the beneficiary's basic needs are met, without the money being spent on frivolities.

A trust can make as many or as few allowances as the person creating it wants. For example, a trust could be set up which permits the beneficiary to spend the money on educational expenses, and nothing else.

Of course, the trust could also be set up to permit the beneficiary unfettered access to the fund, or a specific amount of money could be released from the fund to the beneficiary each month, for the beneficiary to use as he or she sees fit.

What to Include in Any Napa County, CA Trust

To create a trust in Napa County, California, 4 things are required. The first is purpose - the trust must be set up to serve some kind of objective, and it must be clearly stated in the document that creates the trust.

Second, every trust, to be valid, has to assign a trustee. This is the individual or other entity (such as a corporation) who oversees the property that embodies the trust. They possess and control the property, and are responsible for seeing that it is used according to the purpose of the trust.

Third, there must be a named beneficiary. This is the person, persons, or entity who is truly benefiting from the trust. This person or entity must be clearly identified, or must be identifiable at some point in the future that can be objectively defined.

Fourth and finally, there must be some money or property which is directly going to be held in the trust. This property is referred to as the "corpus" (body) of the trust, and can be just about anything. However, it must truly exist, and it must be identified.

Can A Napa County, California Trust Drafting Attorney Help?

While it's fairly easy to list off the basic requirements for a valid trust, actually creating and implementing one can be fairly complicated. Therefore, you should probably seek the assistance of a Napa County, California attorney if you wish to set up a trust.