Black’s Law Dictionary defines “Trust” as “An equitable or beneficial right or title to land or other property, held for the beneficiary by another person, in whom resides legal title or ownership, recognized and enforced by courts of chancery.”
When most people think of a trust, though, they only think of it as probate avoidance technique. This flows from the legal definition above, though. If you think about probate, then it is the procedure for passing property owned by an individual at the time of his death. Trusts avoid this because the “beneficial right” is held separate from the “legal title”. Thus a trust does not die even though a Trustee, Grantor, or Beneficiary does die.
Trusts are commonly divided into two sub-groups: 1. Revocable, 2. Irrevocable. For most planning purposes (probate avoidance, disability planning, gifts after death), the revocable trust is all that is used. An irrevocable trust is normally just used for current tax or creditor protection planning.
If you would like to learn more about a trust, a last will and testament, or other estate planning documents, please feel free to contact me.