A question we hear from our clients upon occasion is how to name their trust or even why they need to name their trust. There actually is not much to it, but all trusts need a name for identification purposes. If a trust is holding assets, like real property, then it needs a name so everyone can see who is actually holding title to the property. Additionally, when it comes to an irrevocable trust paying taxes for example, the IRS is going to need to know the name of the trust because, in essence, the trust is treated as a person for tax filing purposes, but not determining a trust's tax rate - a topic for a future post.

Next, you can name a trust whatever you want within reason. It just cannot be too generic and you want to avoid ambiguity later on. Usually you'll consider the grantor/trustor and/or the beneficiary(ies) when picking a name. This leads to the vast majority of trusts being named after the family - Thompson Family Trust for example. Add first names for some variety/specificity - Tye and Tina Thompson Family Trust for example.

Next, consider keeping the name short. The trust name is something that is, in essence, a fixed thing - it's permanent. It also needs to fit on bank forms including checks for your trust account(s). What you don't want to do is add every name, initial and other modifier typically seen in trust names. An example of a trust name that is too long is Tye C. Thompson and Tina B. Thompson Revocable Family Trust Fund. Very specific but will be abbreviated everywhere if it even fits on various forms.

Keep in mind that when taking title to assets like real property, the trustee(s) name(s) will appear on title and the date the trust was initially executed will also appear, meaning the asset title will be long very easily. An example is Tye Thompson and Tina Thompson, as Trustees, Thompson Family Trust, dated April 1, 2022.

When making future amendments to your trust, the trust name won't change. If space permits on whatever form being completed, then you can append ", as amended" to the end of the trust name, thereby providing notice to third parties that the trust has been amended since it was first executed - something escrow, title and brokerage companies will need to be made aware of in their due diligence.

One word of caution, you shouldn't be too generic with the trust name because that will simply invite headache from these types of companies we've mentioned when they try to verify the existence of a trust. "The Music Trust" or "B Family Trust" are names that will be too generic and invite additional questioning/explanations.

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