Can Successor Trustee establish Foundation referenced in Living Trust?

Question

We are in the beginning stages of setting up a Living Trust. We would like some portion of the assets in the Trust to go to a charitable non-profit Foundation. The Foundation has not been established yet, and, as I understand it, it is a non-trivial process and takes many months and some expense to set up one up.

My question is: Can we set up the Trust first, and reference the Foundation in it (even though it does not exist yet)?

If yes, then if we were to die before the Foundation could be established, can the successor Trustee set one up, and then transfer assets from the Trust to the Foundation based on the provisions stated in the Trust?

In no, then can we add a clause in the Trust to say that if the xyz Foundation exists, do ..., else provide funds to the Successor Trustee to set one up, and then do ...

Thanks in advance, for any info you can provide.

Answer:

I think you probably can do the last thing you suggest -- have a clause saying "if foundation exists do ... and if not, then do ...." That shouldn't be any problem. Just be clear about what you want the trustee to do and/or not do.

But, of course, laws vary from state to state and there may be things relevant to this that only a thorough discussion with your own attorney can uncover. So, as always, this is not legal advice.