Who Are Settlor, Trustee and Beneficiary?

The creation of a trust is done by a Settlor. The trust is created by adding a specific property owned by the individual (the settlor) into the trust. The trust property is handed over to another individual, a.k.a., the trustee. The trustee is given all the instructions about the trust property, and it is kept to the advantage of the beneficiaries only.

The eligibility criteria for becoming a settlor are simple. Any individual who is above or equal to the age of 18 years can apply for the role of a settlor. It is considered that once turned 18, a person starts developing a sound mind and also earns the legal capability to take decisions and form a trust as well. In the trust deed, all the provisions and guidelines related to the trust are incorporated. As per the trust deed, it is the settlor who creates the trust.

A settlor can also be someone who is hired on a professional or personal basis. A personal settlor can be anyone close to you, a family member, or a friend. A professional settlor on the other hand is a very skilled individual that has the best solutions when in crisis. Examples of a professional settlor are an accountant or a lawyer.

You may be wondering that can a settlor also become a trustee at the same time? So the answer to that is, yes, the settlor can become a trustee at the same time. There can also be multiple trustees and settlors of a trust asset, just like when any married couple possesses a trust together. But can a settlor also be a beneficiary? So, the answer to that is that a settlor can become a trust’s beneficiary, but not become the sole beneficiary.

Roles Of A Settlor

The resolved amount should be handed over to the trustees by the settlor. Then, it is the job of the trustee to file a receipt to issue the evidence of that event. 

So, to sum up, there 3 functional roles of the settlor:

• The settlor has to keep the trustee as the main bearer of the trust property.
• The whole team of beneficiaries is decided by the settlor, and the same is mentioned in the trust deed.
• The settlor will ensure that the trustee has consented to be in power.

General Concept Of A Trustee

A person who holds the possessions in the beneficiary’s best interest is known as the trustee. A trustee is a person or business that retains and manages resources or properties on behalf of another party.

The Trustees may be the creator, close members or acquaintances, professionals like auditors, lawyers, a board of banks or a Trust firm, or any combination of these individuals.

How to Choose Trustees?

There are some characteristics that will help you choose trustees, and they are as follows:

• Substantial attention to small details.
• An appreciation for his or her duties and a commitment to take all the responsibilities seriously.
• An awareness of assets and likely finance, standard costing, or legislation.
• Excellent written and verbal communication abilities.
• Connected with the author’s values and standards.

Responsibilities of a Trustee

The most important thing to remember when functioning as a “trustee” is to understand that the trust asset is not your money or resource. You are keeping them for someone else: the author/grantor (if alive) and also for the beneficiary, who will get it once the author expires. 

There are some responsibilities of the trustees:

• The trustee must not mix trust property with his or her own. The trustee must maintain distinguishable reserves and check accounts.
• The trustee may not use the trust funds for his or her gain (without taking the trust permit).
• The trustee should treat all trust authors and beneficiaries equally; the trustee should never favor some over others without advance notification.
• Trust holdings must be allocated wisely in a way that results in realistic development with minimum risk.
• The trustee is the one in charge of keeping correct records, submitting ‘tax returns,’ and communicating with the beneficiary as the agreement requires.
• Avoid conflicts of interest as a trustee.
• The obligation to isolate trust assets.
• The trustee is responsible for enforcing and defending claims.
• Privacy should be maintained by the trustee.

Executor vs Trustee

The properties of trustees and executors may be poles apart, but they can be similar individuals. The responsibilities of a will trust’s trustee begin once the monitoring time of the asset is over. The executor’s role begins if the domain’s assets get held on existing will trusts. In such cases, it is the executor who passes the property to the will trust’s trustees. The trustees then become the lawful asset owners and handle them as per the guidelines of the property trust.

Situations When A New Trustee Should Be Appointed

The situations when a new trustee should be appointed are given below:

• In a situation where an individual who identifies as trustee declines
• After the death of a trustee
• If any trustee has been living in a foreign land for 6 months or permanently left his nation
• On being indicated as an unstable insolvent
• If the trustee wishes to leave the trust and doesn’t want to keep up with the role of a trustee
• If a trustee becomes legally incapacitated or is incapable of being a trustee

Resignation of a Trustee

The resignation of a trustee is only possible when he/she gets a permit from the court. Either that or the whole group of judicially capable beneficiaries should give the withdrawal consent to the trustee to resign. The court generally allows the trustee to resign if continuing the service becomes a liability for the trustee. In such cases the resignation does not diversely affect the trust, hence the court permits it.

General Concept of a Beneficiary

As per the law of trust, comprised under the Indian Trust Act, Section—9, the beneficiary can be anyone competent enough to keep a property. A beneficiary is appointed keeping into consideration the benefit of trust property. Usually, the first and foremost eligibility criteria for a beneficiary is that the individual should be a natural person, but any firm can also act as a trust’s beneficiary. Such a situation generally arises in modern financial transaction structures.

The next point to note in the context of the beneficiary is that any individual that is counted as a minor or is suffering from a mental injury, can also be a beneficiary. In fact, several trusts are made especially for individuals who have those legal drawbacks. Lastly, an unborn child can also become a beneficiary

Reasons For Selecting a Beneficiary

Now that you are aware of the basic concept of a beneficiary, let’s understand why should we select one at all.

Speeds up the process

Once the author has expired, hiring a beneficiary increases the process of asset distribution. As a beneficiary, it is more stable and laid back to hold properties, rather than wait for the validation procedure to be executed.

Helps gain clarity

By hiring a beneficiary, it gets clear to you who should keep your trust property when the author passes away.

Types of Beneficiaries

Contingent Beneficiaries

Counted as a backup, contingent beneficiaries are hired when the primary beneficiary isn’t available or doesn’t exist. If there isn’t any contingent beneficiary or none of them wants the property, then the court decides the fate of the property.

Primary Beneficiaries

The owner of the record votes or initially selects a beneficiary, such beneficiaries are termed as the primary beneficiaries. After the death of the author, all the interest will be presented to the beneficiary (if he/she is alive).

Corporate Beneficiaries

When talking about England, a trust agreement can be limited to a company without obtaining the crown’s license. But this Mortmain Act does not imply India, and that’s why any Indian corporation can be a trust’s beneficiary.

Alien Beneficiaries

Any foreign citizen can also apply to become a beneficiary.

Minors as Beneficiaries

If your service works to provide capital to minors, it becomes even more important for you to connect with a property planning body. Generally, minors are not allowed to be a part of contracts, can’t be property owners, and are not capable of owning any account as well. But still, there are processes to ensure that there is capital for a minor and it is used for their benefit.