In Washington County, Pennsylvania, a trust is a setup under which property is possessed by one individual or entity, to be utilized for the benefit of another.

A trust can be set up for just about any reason. One of the most frequent reasons is to ensure that a person consistently has enough money to avoid going broke, but not enough that they can avoid getting a job, or spend all of the money on things they don't need. This can be accomplished by drafting a trust agreement so that only authorizes the beneficiary to access a limited portion of the money per week, or per month.

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. Therefore, if you want them to only be able to spend it on education, for instance, you can do that.

Of course, the trust could also be set up to authorize the beneficiary unfettered access to the fund, or a particular 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 Washington County, PA Trust

To implement a trust in Washington County, Pennsylvania, 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, 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 really 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.

Lastly, the trust needs to have a corpus, or body. The "body" of the trust is the property that benefits the beneficiary, and that the trustee oversees. Obviously, there can be no trust without something being held in trust.

Can A Washington County, Pennsylvania Trust Drafting Attorney Help?

While the elements of a valid trust are fairly simple and easy to memorize, drafting a trust that is likely to be carried out according to your wishes can be fairly complicated. For that reason, a Washington County, Pennsylvania attorney experienced in estate planning can be invaluable.