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

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.

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

Of course, the trust could also be set up to permit the beneficiary unfettered access to the fund, or a specific amount of money could be released from the fund to the beneficiary each month, for the beneficiary to use as he or she sees fit.

What to Include in Any Southampton, NY Trust

To formulate a trust in Southampton, New York, 4 things are required. The first is purpose - the trust must be set up to serve some sort of objective, and it must be precisely stated in the document that creates the trust.

Second, there must be a trustee. This is the individual who will administer the trust, and retain possession of the property or money that it contains, as well as being accountable for utilizing it to effectuate the trust's purpose.

Third, the trust needs to have a named beneficiary. The beneficiary is the individual who benefits from the trust.

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 Southampton, New York 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 confusing. For that reason, seeking the counsel of a reliable Southampton, New York attorney to help you set up a trust is probably a good idea.