A trust is merely an agreement, like a contract, between two parties. The person
establishing the trust (the "Settlor" or "Trustor") and the person holding the property (the
"Trustee") hold property for the benefit of another (the "Beneficiary"). In a typical
living trust, these three legal "persons" are the same person; you. The term
"living
trust" means that the trust is established and funded during your lifetime, as opposed
to a testamentary trust which is created in your will and must go through probate
to be funded. In order for a trust to be a valid, binding instrument; all that is
necessary is for the parties executing it to have the legal capacity to enter into
a contract, including age and competency, and for the trust to actually own something
(the "corpus"). To fund the trust, you can assign, deed and transfer your assets
into the existing trust, including your real property. Once the trust is signed,
dated and acknowledged by a Notary Public, it is in full force and effect. Neither
your trust nor your will need to be recorded, with the exception that the deed transferring
real property is usually recorded with the applicable Recorder's Office.
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