A trust in Pelham, New York is an arrangement under which property is possessed by one person, but used solely for the benefit of, and legally owned by, another.

You might want to set up a trust for a wide variety of reasons. It can be set up to ensure that a child will have money for college, for example, and that the child will only be able to use the money for that purpose.

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

If you want, you could create 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 Pelham, NY Trust

To create a valid trust in Pelham, New York, 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, 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 responsible for seeing that it is used according to the purpose of the trust.

The third element is a beneficiary. The beneficiary is a person or entity who the trust is constructed to benefit. Although a beneficiary has to be named, they don't really have to exist at the time the trust is written. For instance, if a person sets up a trust to benefit his or her grandchildren, and doesn't yet have any, the trust is valid. If and when their grandchildren are born, the rights that the trust creates will vest in them immediately.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the trust requires a "body." The body of a trust is the thing (normally, but not always, money) that is really being held in trust, and therefore overseen by the trustee, and used to help the beneficiary.

Can A Pelham, New York Trust Drafting Attorney Help?

While it's fairly easy to list off the basic requirements for a valid trust, actually creating and implementing one can be fairly complicated. Therefore, you should probably seek the assistance of a Pelham, New York attorney if you wish to set up a trust.