A trust in North Attleborough, Massachusetts is a legal arrangement for the management of property by one individual, 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 individual, who benefits from the property.

There are various 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. Furthermore, if the trust is well-drafted, the beneficiary can be restricted in how they use the money, so they don't waste it.

A trust can be set up to allow the beneficiary to access the money in it under any conditions the person making the trust wishes. For instance, the trust could be set up so the beneficiary can only use the money in it for education.

If you want, you could formulate 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 North Attleborough, MA Trust

To formulate a legitimate trust in North Attleborough, Massachusetts, 4 elements must be present. The first element is purpose - the property being held in trust must be there for a reason. Your trust can serve just about any lawful purpose you can think of.

Second, the trust must further name a trustee. The trustee is the person who is actually 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 actually have any grandchildren yet.

Finally, 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 North Attleborough, Massachusetts 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 perplexing. For that reason, seeking the counsel of a reputable North Attleborough, Massachusetts attorney to help you set up a trust is probably a good idea.