In Shoreline, Washington, a trust is a particular method of managing property for the benefit of another person. A trustee is able to possess and, to some extent, control the property. Nonetheless, the property is owned by the beneficiary, the person for whose benefit the property is being used.
Trusts serve a variety of purposes. For instance, they can be set up to ensure that the beneficiary (say, a child) will consistently have enough money to live off of, but will be unable to spend it all on frivolities.
A trust can make as many or as few allowances as the person creating it wants. For instance, a trust could be set up which authorizes the beneficiary to spend the money on educational expenses, and nothing else.
If you want, you could implement 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 quickly spend all the money on some pretty frivolous stuff.
What to Include in Any Shoreline, WA Trust
To implement a legitimate trust in Shoreline, Washington, 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 accountable for seeing that it is utilized 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 example, 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.
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 Shoreline, Washington Trust Drafting Attorney Help?
While the elements of a valid trust are fairly simple and easy to remember, drafting a trust that is sure to be carried out according to the wishes of the person making it can still be complex. For that reason, a good Shoreline, Washington attorney experienced in estate planning and the drafting trusts may prove invaluable.
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