The Basic Law of Trusts

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 The concept of a trust fund carries a certain mystique, but exactly what is a trust? In simplest terms, it's a legal agreement between three parties: 

• The trustmaker: This is the individual who creates the trust agreement, also commonly referred to as the grantor, trustor or settlor.
• The trustee: This person or entity is responsible for managing the property the trustmaker transfers into and titles in the name of the trust.
• The beneficiary or beneficiaries: These people or entities receive the benefits of the property titled in the name of the trust. 

The trustmaker transfers ownership of certain assets to the trust and the trustee, and the trustee then manages them for the benefit of the beneficiary or beneficiaries.  This was commonly done in the Crusades when it was unlikely that a Knight would return. His property and affiars were ENTRUSTED to another until he returned and if he did not then instructions were given as to how to apportion his estate or wealth.

 All living trusts are either revocable or irrevocable, but they can be designed to meet specific purposes as well within these frameworks.

• An irrevocable life insurance trust or ILIT holds only an insurance policy on the trustmaker's life. The policy is owned by the trust so its proceeds are not generally included in the gross value of the decedent's estate for estate tax purposes.
• A special needs trust is set up to provide for a disabled beneficiary in such a way that it doesn't compromise his entitlement to Supplemental Security Income or Medicaid benefits
• A spendthrift trust gives the trustee discretion as to how and when distributions should be made to a beneficiary who isn't financially responsible, or to safeguard the inheritance in the event the beneficiary divorces. 

In most cases, the trustmaker, trustee and beneficiary of a revocable trust are the same person.The trust agreement may cite other beneficiaries as well, those who will inherit from the trust after the trustmaker's death. The two most common purposes of a revocable living trust are to plan for mental disability and to avoid probate of the assets the trustmaker funds into his trust before his death. The creator of the trust can name someone else, called a "successor trustee" to take over should he become mentally incapacitated. This avoids having a court name a conservator or guardian to take over his financial affairs when he's unable to. 

With a trust we can help you cross into a better and more protected world.

""There is a widespread sense of powerlessness, both in our economic and political life. We seem no longer to control our own destinies. If we don’t like our Internet company or our cable TV, we either have no place to turn, or the alternative is no better. Monopoly corporations are the primary reason that drug prices in the United States are higher than anywhere else in the world. Whether we like it or not, a company like Equifax can gather data about us, and then blithely take insufficient cybersecurity measures, exposing half the country to the risk of identity fraud, and then charge us for but a partial restoration of the security that we had before a major breach.Some century and a quarter ago, America was, in some ways, at a similar juncture: Political and economic power seemed concentrated in a few hands, in ways that were inconsonant with our democratic ideals. We passed the Sherman Anti-Trust Act in 1890, followed in the next quarter-century by other legislation trying to ensure competition in the market place. Importantly, these laws were based on the belief that concentrations of economic power inevitably would lead to concentrations in political power. "" [www.market-ticker.org]