In Castro Valley, California, a trust is an arrangement in which property is held by one individual (the trustee) for the benefit of another (the beneficiary).
Trusts can serve any variety of purposes. They can be set up to guarantee 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.
If you want to set up a trust, you can make the beneficiary's use of the property as restricted or as permissive as you like. As a simple instance, you might want to dictate that the beneficiary can only use the money for emergencies, or for general living expenses. If the trust is thoroughly drafted, this is entirely feasible.
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 Castro Valley, CA Trust
To set up a legitimate trust in Castro Valley, California, 4 elements are necessary. First, the trust must have a stated purpose, and this purpose must be precisely laid out in the documents that implement the trust.
Second, there must be a trustee. This is the individual who will administer the trust, and retain possession of the property or money that it contains, as well as being accountable for utilizing it to effectuate the trust's purpose.
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 truly have any grandchildren yet.
Finally, the trust needs to truly be composed of something. A trust document must name the money or property which is directly being held in trust, which is identified as the "corpus" or "body" of the trust.
Can A Castro Valley, California 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 confusing. For that reason, seeking the counsel of a reliable Castro Valley, California attorney to help you set up a trust is probably a good idea.