Titles in the series are listed following the last narrative section of each document. Reading the documents in this series will improve your understanding of estate planning tools and alternatives, and make it easier to communicate with your attorney, accountant, and other helpers when your estate plan is prepared. While the information contained in this document is thought to be accurate, it should not be used as a substitute for legal advice on matters related to business organization, taxation, estate planning, gifting of assets, life insurance, or other business and financial management matters. Consult with your legal and tax advisers before making decisions. A trust is a legal mechanism that separates the responsibility of owning property from the benefits of owning property.
Property placed in the trust is called the corpus of the trust.
The nature of the trust is identified in a document called a trust instrument or trust declaration. The trustee receives the property, places it in the trust, and manages the trust for the benefit of a beneficiary or beneficiaries as identified in the trust declaration. Instructions for distributing the trust income and the corpus of the trust, whether this distribution is to occur during the life of the trust or upon its termination, are included in the trust declaration. Upon the death of the grantor, a revocable trust becomes irrevocable. By the nature of its creation, a testamentary trust is irrevocable.