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A trust is traditionally used for minimizing estate taxes and can offer other benefits as part of a well-crafted estate plan. A trust is a fiduciary arrangement that allows a third party, or trustee, to hold assets on behalf of a beneficiary or beneficiaries.

There are just six steps to setting up a trust: Decide how you want to set up the trust. Create a trust document. Sign and notarize the agreement. Set up a trust bank account. Transfer assets into the trust. For other assets, designate the trust as beneficiary.

The three most common types of trusts are: living, revocable, and irrevocable. A living trust is one that's created while you're still alive and can be revocable or irrevocable. A revocable living trust can be changed while you're still alive. An irrevocable living trust can't be changed after it's created.

Still, it is essential to point out that trustees are individuals or companies that will be holding and managing assets for a trust and its beneficiaries when the grantor dies. In contrast, the grantor is the person who owns the trust and who appoints the trustee, who specifies the terms of the trust document.

Most people choose either a friend or family member, a professional trustee such as a lawyer or an accountant, or a trust company or corporate trustee for this key role.

A simple example would be the situation in which one member of a family advances money to another and asks the second member to hold the money or to invest it for him. A more complicated example of an implied trust would be the situation in which one party provides money to another for the purchase of property.