In Decatur, Illinois, a trust is an arrangement in which property is held by one individual (the trustee) for the benefit of another (the beneficiary).
You might want to set up a trust for a wide number of reasons. It can be set up to guarantee that a child will have money for college, for instance, and that the child will only be able to use the money for that purpose.
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.
If you want, you could implement 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 quickly spend all the money on some pretty frivolous stuff.
What to Include in Any Decatur, IL Trust
There are 4 things that have to be present in every trust for it to be legitimate in Decatur, Illinois. First, the trust must have a stated purpose. Whatever purpose you intend the trust to serve, you should make it extremely clear when drafting the document.
Second, the trust must further name a trustee. The trustee is the person who is really going to administer the trust, and has possession and control of the property while it is the subject 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.
Fourth and finally, there must be some money or property which is really 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. But, it must really exist, and it must be identified.
Can A Decatur, Illinois Trust Drafting Attorney Help?
While it's not difficult to understand the basic requirements of a trust, actually creating a trust can be a bit more intricate. Therefore, it is advisable to contact a seasoned Decatur, Illinois attorney to help you set up a trust.
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