The key terms to know in an Oklahoma living trust agreement

To understand an Oklahoma revocable living trust agreement it is helpful to understand some of the key terms and players used in the trust. 

Below are key definitions for the different roles in an Oklahoma revocable living trust agreement:

Settlor
The person who creates the trust agreement.

Trustee
The person or entity who holds legal title to the property that is transferred to the trust.  The Trustee is responsible for managing and administering the trust.

Beneficiary
The person or entity for which the trust holds the property.  A beneficiary might get something when the settlor passes away or the beneficiary might get a steady flow of income from the trust.

Trust Protector
“A trust protector can be an individual or a group of individuals that is not the settlor, beneficiary, or trustee. Their role occurs in a directed trust. The trust protector’s role, in essence, is to supervise the trustee. ”  Link to the definition.

Trustee advisor
“Means a person appointed by the terms of the trust instrument to act as an advisor to the trustee with regard to all or some of the matters relating to the property of the trust. Unless otherwise provided by the terms of the trust instrument, if a trustee advisor is appointed, the property and management of the trust and the exercise of all powers and discretionary acts exercisable by the trustee remain vested in the trustee as fully and effectively as if an advisor were not appointed, the trustee is not required to follow the advice of the trustee advisor, and the trustee advisor is not liable as or considered to be a trustee of the trust or a fiduciary when acting as an advisor to the trust.”  Link to the definition.

Principal
“Means any real or personal property which has been so set aside or limited by the owner thereof, or a person thereto, legally empowered that it and any substitutions for it are eventually to be conveyed, delivered, or paid to a person, while the return therefrom, or use thereof, or any part of such return or use is in the meantime to be taken or received by or held for accumulation for the same or another person.” Link to the definition.

 

Posted by Shawn Roberts

On this blog, I write about and try to answer practical Oklahoma legal questions. My focus and most experience is in estate planning and business issues including Oklahoma non-compete law. I make a living as an attorney in the law firm I founded, Shawn J. Roberts, P.C. in Oklahoma City. I live in Edmond with my wife Amy and my two children, Sam (19) and David (11). We live precisely in the path of where the "wind comes sweeping down the plains."