HRS §554D-402
What is needed to create a valid trust
A trust is only created if the person making it has the legal ability, intends to make it, has a clear beneficiary (or is for charity, an animal, or a noncharitable purpose), and the trustee has duties. A beneficiary can be identified now or later. An agent can create a trust if the power of attorney specifically allows it and the person had capacity when signing that document.
beneficiariestrustees
The statute, as written — Requirements for creation
(a) A trust is created only if: (1) The settlor has capacity to create a trust; (2) The settlor indicates an intention to create the trust; (3) The trust has a definite beneficiary or is: (A) A charitable trust; (B) A trust for the care of an animal, as provided in section 554D-408; or (C) A trust for a noncharitable purpose, as provided in section 554D-409; and (4) The trustee has duties to perform. (b) A beneficiary is definite if the beneficiary can be ascertained now or in the future, subject to any applicable rule against perpetuities. (c) A power in a trustee, or in another person under the terms of the trust, to select a beneficiary from an indefinite class is valid. If the power is not exercised within a reasonable time, the power fails and the property subject to the power passes to the persons who would have taken the property had the power not been conferred. (d) Notwithstanding subsection (a)(1), a trust created by an agent under power of attorney is valid if: (1) The trust is created by an agent of the settlor under a power of attorney that specifically authorizes the creation of a trust; and (2) The settlor had capacity to create a trust when the power of attorney was executed.
Sections this one refers to
§554D-408 Trusts for caring for pets are valid and protected
§554D-409 Trusts for purposes without named beneficiaries
LawTrove is not legal advice. The summary above is a computer-generated restatement — the authoritative text is the official version linked above.