In Sugar Land, Texas, a trust is a setup under which property is possessed by one individual or entity, to be utilized for the benefit of 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 are a trustee, you can allow the beneficiary to access the trust under any conditions you see fit (or make it unconditional, if you want). The point is that, if you make sure the trust agreement is well-constructed, you can help the beneficiary in any way you like, secure in the knowledge that they won't be able (or will find it very challenging) to spend it on things you don't approve of.
Of course, the trust could also be set up to allow the beneficiary unfettered access to the fund, or a certain 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 Sugar Land, TX Trust
There are 4 things that have to be present in every trust for it to be legitimate in Sugar Land, Texas. First, the trust must have a stated purpose. Whatever purpose you intend the trust to serve, you should make it very clear when drafting the document.
Second, the trust needs a trustee. The trustee will have possession of the property or money that is being held in trust, and will be accountable for putting it to the use that the creator of the trust intended.
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 actually have any grandchildren yet.
Lastly, and perhaps most notably, the trust requires a "body." The body of a trust is the thing (usually, but not always, money) that is actually being held in trust, and therefore overseen by the trustee, and utilized to help the beneficiary.
Can A Sugar Land, Texas 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 Sugar Land, Texas attorney to help you set up a trust is probably a good idea.
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