How to Set up a Trust Fund
Trust Funds are a great way to pass your hard-earned money to your future generations. They are often associated with wealthy and affluent families, but that is not always the case. If you aren’t rich, then trust funds can still help you in many advantageous ways. Although setting up a trust fund is not easy, we will help you with that. Let’s understand what a trust fund is and how you can set up a trust fund.
What Is a Trust Fund?
Trust funds are assets that include cash, stocks, bonds, real estate, businesses, antiques, or anything that are distributed after the death of the grantor. The grantor can choose their beneficiaries who will receive the funds after death. Trust funds are sometimes confused with the will, but both are different. A will can only explain what will happen to your assets, but a trust fund ensures that your assets are given to your beneficiaries.
5 Steps to Set Up a Trust Fund
Step 1: Always choose the right type of trust
You must think about the purpose of your trust fund before setting it up. There are different kinds of trust funds such as- revocable trusts and irrevocable trusts, also known as living trusts and testamentary trusts. Education trusts signify your funds for covering educational expenses. Spendthrift trusts can limit the funds used by their beneficiaries from time to time and manage how they are distributed.
Step 2: Highlight the details
This is your second step after choosing the right type of trust. You should outline the details i.e., the details about beneficiaries, trustees, and grantors. Also, you should enlist what assets you will place in the trust fund and how they will be distributed and managed. You should also explain the conditions needed to operate and use the funds so that there is no misuse.
Step 3: Make it official
You can ask your attorney to create a deed of trust, declaration of faith, or trust instrument to highlight and clarify the trust details you’ve decided on. This trust document can have numerous pages and can be complicated. It depends on the types of assets in the trust, the number of beneficiaries, the trust type, etc. After completing the trust document, the last thing you need to do is sign the document in the presence of a notary.
Step 4: Fund the trust
After the sanction of the document, it’s time to fund your trust. You need to take your trust documents to a financial institution like a bank. Then with the same name of the trust, you need to open a trust fund bank account. You have to provide all the names, contact details, and information of the trustees.
Step 5: Register with the IRS
Once your trust fund’s account is created in the bank, you have to register it with the IRS for tax purposes. Each trust fund has its taxpayer identification number (TIN) for financial accounts, tax returns, and other needs.
