A Trust is a legal entity created by a document that explains its purpose, the parties involved, and its terms. There are many types of trust, and each has its own set of legal rules of operation. In the broadest sense, there’s a type that you can set up while you’re alive (a Living Trust) and a type that is established when one passes (a Testamentary Trust). One reason to use a trust is to protect assets – it may help to keep them in the family if certain events such as a death occur, for example.
Whether you need one or not depends on your personal circumstances. Most people do not initially need a trust, but once their assets grow and their financial life becomes more complex, then it’s quite probable that a trust or even multiple trusts of different types would be beneficial.