The declaration of trust usually starts with naming the main parties of the trust: grantor, and trustee. In living trusts the initial trustee will be the grantor himself. Sometimes the names of the beneficiaries are mentioned here as well. However some trust documents contain the names of the trust persons in the respective sections only. Others have an annex for the beneficiaries, that the declaration of trust refers to.

Thereafter the trust is usually named. Normally the grantor’s name is used for the name of the trust, e.g. the “Patricia Williams Trust”. Although unusual, some people like to choose a fantasy-name such as the “Harry Potter of Hogwarts Trust”. That is perfectly legal. But if you do so, you should be prepared to see bewildered faces if you transfer your bank account to a trust named “Harry Potter of Hogwarts Trust”. So usually I advise people to choose a more serious name for their living trust. If there are several trusts of the same grantor, those should be numbered, e.g. “The Patricia Williams Trust I” and “Patricia Williams Trust II”. Quite often the Trust document is headed with the name of the trust, too.