Our Trust History

Trusts are legal entities that can be used to transfer through sale or gift, and manage, property or assets. The Trust relationship comes under the realm of equity based on Common Law. It is an ingeniously created legal entity empowering Trustees of the Trust to have and hold all control over trust property and/or assets assets. The terms and conditions of the Trust strictly define the form of the trust to meet the needs of the persons or entities it is created to serve; all in accordance with the intent of the Settlor creating the trust.

The substance and form of the original "Sovereign Trust" (copyrighted as Master Spendthrift Trust), and the current Benson Financial LLC Trust, were first constructed in the early 1950’s. The original series of Master Trusts’ was created by Robert N. Benson, Esq., who was a Harvard educated attorney and a protégé of Professor Austin Scott who taught at Harvard Law School. Professor Scott is the renowned author of “Scott on Trust Law”, which is recognized as the leading treatise and authority on Trust Law in the United States. Mr. Benson studied and taught classes under the guidance of Professor Scott. After graduating from Harvard, Mr. Benson became a partner in a prominent Wall Street Law Firm providing his legal acumen to high-net-worth individuals to plan and protect their estates through various Spendthrift Trusts. These trusts are the predecessors to the subsequently copyrighted Master Trusts, copyrighted under the authority and approval of Mr. Benson. This same trust is what we have rebranded as the Sovereign Trust.

In approximately 1995, Mr. Benson partnered with Tarrant County Judge George Boren, who, utilizing paralegal Richard Ronald, to form a new Law Firm which offered Trusts to everyone, not just ultra wealthy clients. Mr. Ronald partnered with Mr. Benson to refine and copyright various trusts, including the Master Spendthrift Trust. In 1999, the first Master Spendthrift Trust Format Copyright was filed with the U.S. Copyright Office and a copyright was issued as an original work. The Copyright Office noted that it was the first and only trust that had ever been copyrighted.

Many people have recognized the advantages to the copyrighted Master Trust which subsequently became the current Benson Financial LLC Trust, and Sovereign Trust products. Thousands of Mr. Bensons “tried & true” Spendthrift Trusts, and the subsequent Master Trust and Benson Financial Trust, have been created and sold over the last 70 plus years. Over the years others have unsuccessfully infringed on the copyrights of the Master Trust and paid a significant penalty for doing so. Benson actively protects the unauthorized use and sale of its copyrighted trusts, utilizing various legal avenues.