When reviewing a trust agreement for a family trust, I saw that the beneficiaries are John Smith and my issue. Does the phrase "my issue" mean children? I did some Google searches to no avail?

First comment (please do not take it wrong), if you are accepting documents for a trust, and do not understand the wording, it should go through someone else in the department that can accept responsibility for accepting it. There may be too much liability for accepting a response from BOL, especially if there is a state law interpretation.

From internet.

The natural meaning of the word ‘issue’ is descendants of all degrees, meaning one’s children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren etc. Interpretation problems can arise when it appears in the will that this term was intended to mean only the first generation of descendants, or ‘children.’ The word ‘issue’ will only be given the secondary meaning of ‘children’ if that meaning was intended by the testator, based on clear and cogent evidence from the rest of the will.1 Therefore, my recommendation is to only use ‘issue’ in a will in the context of its primary natural meaning of descendants of all degrees.

Anon, may I ask why you're reviewing a trust? If it's for a mortgage, may I suggest you use the FNMA guidelines five question criteria so you're not stuck trying to read legalize.

1. The identity of the grantor/trustor/settlor, beneficiary and trustee;
2. The powers of the trustee (e.g., mortgage the subject property);
3. That the subject property is held by the trust;
4. That the trust is revocable;
5. That the trust was created and became effective during the lifetime of the original grantor/trustor/settlor.

We don't review trust here at all. Instead we require an attorney to do a certification responding to the questions above. They're an inexpensive item and remove the responsibility from employees.