What is a trust?

A trust is a legal arrangement that can provide flexibility for the ownership of certain assets, enabling you and your heirs to achieve a number of goals that cannot be achieved otherwise. The term trust describes the holding of property by a trustee in the accordance of the provisions of a contract for the benefit of one or more persons called beneficiaries. The trustee is the legal owner of the trust property, and the beneficiaries are the equitable owners of the trust property. With certain trusts, a person may be both a trustee and a beneficiary of the same trust. In other types of trusts, the roles must be held by different entities or people.