Can a trust be set up for relatives and friends as beneficiaries?
Can a trust be set up for relatives and friends as beneficiaries?
Yes, a trust can be set up for relatives and friends as beneficiaries. The key is to make sure that the trust has language that doesn't give its beneficiaries any claim on your assets before your death. Instead, it should say the assets are to be used only for the benefit of those named beneficiaries.
A typical beneficiary-type trust would have payable-on-death or transfer-on-death designations on all accounts. This means that when you die, the assets in those accounts will be paid out to the beneficiaries without going through probate court.
The trustee of the trust would manage your estate until your death and have discretion over how much money each beneficiary receives each year, which could be more than their annual gift tax exclusion amount. The trustee could also invest money in a way that makes sense for the beneficiaries but wouldn't necessarily be what you'd want if you were still alive and able to handle it yourself. Above all, the trustee wouldn't be liable for using his or her own judgment in these matters.
So as long as there are no other beneficiaries who could legally challenge this arrangement, it should work fine when you're gone—and you can even change it later if you need to. It's important to check with an attorney about whether some
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Disclaimer: This is not legal advice and is simply an answer to a question and that if legal advice is sought to contact a licensed attorney in the appropriate jurisdiction.