A trust in Beaufort, North Carolina is an arrangement under which property is possessed by one person, but used completely for the benefit of, and legally owned by, another.

Trusts serve a variety of purposes. For instance, they can be set up to ensure that the beneficiary (say, a child) will always have enough money to live off of, but will be unable to spend it all on frivolities.

Regardless of the purpose for which you're creating a trust, you can be sure that the beneficiary will only be able to spend the trust fund in ways you approve of. This is because a trust document, at the time of drafting, can place any restrictions or allowances you want on the beneficiary's use of the money. So, if you want them to only be able to spend it on education, for instance, you can do that.

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 Beaufort, NC Trust

To set up a legitimate trust in Beaufort, North Carolina, 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, 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.

Third, there must be a named beneficiary. This is the person, persons, or entity who is actually benefiting from the trust. This person or entity must be precisely identified, or must be identifiable at some point in the future that can be objectively defined.

Fourth and finally, the trust must contain what is known as the "corpus" or "body." The corpus is the money and/or property which is being held in trust. For a trust to be legitimate, the corpus must be precisely identified.

Can A Beaufort, North Carolina 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 Beaufort, North Carolina attorney to help you set up a trust is probably a good idea.