The Trust Instrument: How Trustees Interpret Common Trust Provisions

Many considerations go into the planning and drafting of a trust instrument:  For what purpose do you need the trust?  For whom are the assets being placed in trust?  What are the tax implications of your decisions?  These are just a few of the many questions that must be considered before a trust can be finalized.

One additional question to consider is, once the trust is drafted, how will it be interpreted? Specifically, how will the Trustee of a trust interpret a trust provision, and second, what effect does the absence of a provision have on the Trustee’s administration of the trust?  As a Delaware Directed Trust Company, Commonwealth Trust Company, analyzes trust interpretation questions in accordance with the Delaware Code and Delaware common law.  The following are just a few examples of how a Trustee in Delaware may approach certain situations.

To continue reading our Associate Trust Counsel’s, Cody A. Snyder’s, full article on the topic of The Trust Instrument:  How Trustees Interpret Common Trust Provisions please click the following graphic below.