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

There are several reasons why a person might set up a trust. A well-managed trust, started with a substantial amount of money, can mature into a sizable college fund for a child. Moreover, if the trust is well-drafted, the beneficiary can be restricted in how they use the money, so they don't waste it.

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 example, you might want to dictate that the beneficiary can only use the money for emergencies, or for basic living expenses. If the trust is carefully drafted, this is entirely feasible.

If you want, you could establish a trust with no restrictions on how much money the trustee can spend from the trust, and let the beneficiary spend all the money on whatever they'd like. If this is what you want to do, that's fine- but if the beneficiary is a young adult with spendthrift habits, you obviously might want to take into consideration the fact that they could easily spend all the money on some pretty frivolous stuff.

What to Include in Any Belleair, FL Trust

To set up a valid trust in Belleair, Florida, 4 elements are required. First, the trust must have a stated purpose, and this purpose must be clearly laid out in the documents that establish the trust.

Second, the trust must also name a trustee. The trustee is the person who is truly going to administer the trust, and has possession and control of the property while it is the subject 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.

Lastly, 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 Belleair, Florida 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 intricate. For that reason, seeking the counsel of a knowledgeable Belleair, Florida attorney to help you set up a trust is probably a good idea.