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A land trust is a legal agreement held by one person or company for another person. The trust is a piece of real estate or property. Land trusts were created to protect the actual land owner by having the property documents in trust of someone else. Many non-profit organizations hold land in trust for conservation purposes. These... more »
The concept of a trust originated in the English legal system and is now widely recognized internationally. Trusts have considerable flexibility in the types of assets they can manage and how those assets can be disposed of. Once the legal threshold for the creation of a trust is met, trusts usually offer tax advantages and... more »
A living trust can ensure that your family members avoid estate taxes and can allow you to retain maximum control of your assets. Although most people creating a living trust have their documents drawn up by attorneys, it is possible to create a valid living trust on the Internet. more »
Unit trusts have long been considered low relative risk, low-return investments. They are typically purchased by low-risk investors. Unit trusts are usually issued for purchase into retirement accounts, IRA accounts, and for investors seeking income through either corporate bonds or municipal bonds and occasionally preferred stock.... more »
A trust is an arrangement that allows for an individual to have legal title for someone else's property. Often trusts are created to manage assets for minor children or to provide for a spouse after death. A living trust is simply a trust created while an individual is still alive. more »
Let's face it, many people put off creating wills because it's a subject they'd rather not think...
Planning ahead is always a good idea. Be secure in the knowledge that you are leaving your loved...
Estate planning helps you take control of where and how your assets are distributed after your...
A personal trust is a legal document the purpose of which may be to oversee one's investments, manage assets for others, pass assets to others,... more »
A living trust is an estate planning tool that is usually drafted by an estate attorney. Unlike trusts created after death, a living trust is... more »
A bypass trust is method used by taxpayers to avoid federal estate taxes and many of those imposed by the states. It can be a very useful device... more »
An irrevocable trust is established to allow a person to make gifts to an estate, either by will or during life, thereby relinquishing ownership... more »
Married couples must consider many important things once they begin having children--perhaps none as important as their Last Will and Testament.... more »
In common law legal systems, a trust is an arrangement whereby property (including real, tangible and intangible) is managed by one person (or persons, or organizations) for the benefit of another. A trust is created by a settlor (or feoffor to uses), who entrusts some or all of his property to people of his choice (the trustees or feoffee to uses). The trustees hold legal title to the trust property (or trust corpus), but they are obliged to hold the property for the benefit of one or more individuals or organizations (the beneficiary, cestui que use, or cestui que trust), usually specified by the settlor, who hold equitable title. The trustees owe a fiduciary duty to the beneficiaries, who are the "beneficial" owners of the trust property.
The trust is governed by the terms of the trust document, which is usually written and occasionally set out in deed form. It is also governed by local law. The trustee is obliged to administer the trust in accordance with both the terms of the trust document and the governing law.
In the United States, the settlor is also called the trustor, grantor, donor or creator.
History
Roman law recognised a fairly similar concept to the trust that it referred to as the fidei commissa, although this was a bequest in a law. Roman law never employed a concept equivalent of the inter vivos trust later seen in common law jurisdictions. Another major difference between the fidei commissa and the trust was "the former existing primarily to ensure proper passage of the property and the latter being a mechanism to increase the efficient management of property and to minimize the costs of ownership."
The waqf in Islamic law, which developed in the medieval Islamic world from the 7th to 9th centuries, bears a notable resemblance to the English trust. Every waqf was required to have a waqif (founder), mutawillis (trustee), qadi (judge) and beneficiaries. Under both a waqf and a trust, "property is reserved, and its us read more at » http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust+law
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