A private express trust may designate which type of beneficiary?

• A. A definite or ascertainable person
• B. A non-person entity
• C. A dead person
• D. A cemetery

Answer: (A)

Private express trusts must have beneficiaries who are a definite person or a definite and ascertainable class of persons. That ensures there is a lawful, enforceable beneficiary who can benefit from or enforce the trust. A dead person cannot be a beneficiary because there is no living interest to enforce, and a cemetery or any non-person entity isn’t the kind of beneficiary such trusts allow—the beneficiary must be a person or a clearly identifiable group of people. So a trust may designate living individuals or a definite class (like the children of a named person), but not a dead person, a cemetery, or a non-person entity.