South Dakota Agricultural Law - What is a trust?

The trust is often a useful and flexible tool for a South Dakota farmer's estate planning. A trust is an artificial entity created by a document or instrument.

A trust requires four basic elements - trustee, trust property, trust document, and known beneficiaries. The trust document contains the trust's "rule book" including the powers of the trustee, the beneficiaries to share in the income and principal from the trust, and instructions for distributing of the trust property.