In El Dorado, Arkansas, a trust is an arrangement in which property is held by one individual (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.

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

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 permitting the beneficiary to spend as much of the money in it as they like, on anything. Of course, in such a case, the trust fund might not last very long, particularly if the beneficiary is a younger person.

What to Include in Any El Dorado, AR Trust

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

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 accountable for seeing that it is utilized according to the purpose of the trust.

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. Nonetheless, if the person(s) meant to benefit from the trust do not yet exist, they can still be legitimate beneficiaries, as long as they are part of an identifiable class of people, and can be easily identified if they are born. For instance, you could set up a trust to benefit your grandchildren, even if you don't really have any grandchildren yet.

Lastly, and perhaps most notably, the trust requires a "body." The body of a trust is the thing (normally, but not always, money) that is really being held in trust, and therefore overseen by the trustee, and utilized to help the beneficiary.

Can A El Dorado, Arkansas Trust Drafting Attorney Help?

While the elements of a valid trust are fairly 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 complex. For that reason, a good El Dorado, Arkansas attorney experienced in estate planning and the drafting trusts may prove invaluable.