A trust in Park Ridge, Illinois is a legal arrangement for the management of property by one person, for the benefit of another. In the simplest possible terms, if property is held in trust, it is possessed and controlled by one person, but it is technically owned by another person, who benefits from the property.
Trusts serve a number of purposes. For example, they can be set up to ensure that the beneficiary (say, a child) will always have enough money to live off of, but will be unable to spend it all on frivolities.
If you are a trustee, you can allow 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.
A trust could, of course, be much more permissive, if the creator of the trust wants it to be. You could set up a trust allowing the beneficiary to spend as much of the money in it as they like, on anything. Of course, in such a situation, the trust fund might not last very long, especially if the beneficiary is a younger person.
What to Include in Any Park Ridge, IL Trust
There are 4 things that have to be present in every trust for it to be valid in Park Ridge, Illinois. First, the trust must have a stated purpose. Whatever purpose you intend the trust to serve, you should make it very clear when drafting the document.
Second, the trust needs a trustee. The trustee will have possession of the property or money that is being held in trust, and will be responsible for putting it to the use that the creator of the trust intended.
The third required element to make a valid trust is the beneficiary or beneficiaries. Because a trust, by definition, is set up to benefit someone or something, that entity must be identified in the trust. However, if the person(s) meant to benefit from the trust do not yet exist, they can still be valid beneficiaries, as long as they are part of an identifiable class of people, and can be easily identified if they are born. For example, you could set up a trust to benefit your grandchildren, even if you don't actually have any grandchildren yet.
Lastly, the trust needs to actually be composed of something. A trust document must name the money or property which is actually being held in trust, which is known as the "corpus" or "body" of the trust.
Can A Park Ridge, Illinois Trust Drafting Attorney Help?
While the elements of a valid trust are relatively simple and easy to remember, drafting a trust that is sure to be carried out according to the wishes of the person making it can still be complicated. For that reason, a good Park Ridge, Illinois attorney specializing in estate planning and the drafting trusts may prove invaluable.
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