A Trust is a specific legal relationship, mostly known in the Common law: The owner of certain assets (the “Settlor”) transfers these assets to an independent other party (the “Trustee”). The Trustee, in turn, is legally bound to maintain and manage these assets for the benefit of another person or group of persons (the “Beneficiaries”). As a legal instrument, the Trust dates back to Middle Ages or even earlier. It continues to be widely used in all jurisdictions whose legislation has been developed on the basis of the British Common law.

The most recent developments in trust law allow for "self settled trusts" wherein, the settlor can also be named as a beneficiary. Five U.S. states allow for this as do all the top International trust jurisdictions.