A trust in Belpre, Ohio is an arrangement under which property is possessed by one person, but used exclusively 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 completely feasible.

The trust can also be set up to authorize the beneficiary to spend as much of the money in it on anything they like. Of course, few people do this, because the trust isn't likely to last very long under such an arrangement, particularly if the beneficiary is a teenager or young adult.

What to Include in Any Belpre, OH Trust

There are 4 distinct elements that must be present for any trust to be legitimate in Belpre, Ohio. The first element is the purpose - in drafting a trust document, the purpose that the trust is serving must be stated.

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.

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.

Lastly, and perhaps most notably, 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 utilized to help the beneficiary.

Can A Belpre, Ohio 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 difficult. For that reason, seeking the counsel of a seasoned Belpre, Ohio attorney to help you set up a trust is probably a good idea.