Express Trust Flashcards
what is an express trust?
- a way of splitting ownership
- One person, the trustee, who holds property for the benefit of somebody else. The trustee doesn’t get any of the benefits, the beneficiary does.
Uses of Trusts (why you want the split)
- Wealth management
- Shared ownership (e.g. of land)
- Secrecy
- Tax avoidance
- Asset shielding (against insolvency)
What is a Trust?
- Property begins with the settler (can be the trustee or the beneficiary).
- They can self-declare themselves the trustee or they can transfer legal title to somebody/ group of people so they become the trustee and then they drop out of the picture and looses control so there is a separate settlor - 3 party situation
- Common law idea
first thing to do when making a trust
constitute that trust
what are the 3 methods of constitution and the case
- A makes an outright gift of the property to B;
- A declares themselves trustee of the property, to hold on trust for B
- A transfers the property to C as trustee, to hold on trust for B (declaration still required)
- Milroy v Lord (1862)
what does the Law of Property Act 1925, s 53 do (Formalities)
- Signed writing required for:
a) Creation of interests in land
b) Declarations of trust over land
c) Transfers of pre-existing equitable interests - Exception for resulting and constructive trusts - Informal trusts do not require formalities
Jones v Lock
A cheque handed to a baby - words the father said could not be a self-declaration of trust, he meant to give a gift.
Richards v Delbridge
Transfer and declaration did not match – not a trust
Paul v Constance
‘The money is as much yours as mine’ – treated it as a joint account, meant to constitute a trust for their equal benefit.
Choithram v Pagarani
Self-declaration by one of several trustees – Lord Brown Wilkinson, ‘equity with not strive… to defeat a gift,
principle in Strong v Bird (1874) and what other cases was it applied to (2)
- ‘Fortuitous vesting’ on death of property owner - there has to be delivery
- Applied in Re Ralli’s WT (1964): Settlor died and will transferred the property to the intended trustee - executor case
- And also Re Rose (1952)
what are the Three Certainties applied to? and what they? and in which case is found in?
- gifts and trust
- Knight v Knight
1) if the words are so used, that upon the whole, they ought to be construed as imperative;
2) if the subject of the recommendation or wish be certain;
3) if the objects or persons intended to have the benefit of the recommendation or wish be also certain.
Re Hay’s ST
- Preference is to uphold trusts
what are the reasons for the 3 certainties (5)
- A trustee must obey the terms of the trust
- Personal liability for breach of trust
- Unfair on trustee to be faced with difficulties or impossibilities in managing the trust given this liability
- Court can step in as last resort if the trustee does not perform
- The court needs to know what it is doing too
what is Certainty of Intention and how should id be assessed?
- It’s the settlor’s intention
- But still an objectively construed intention
- take in the surrounding context and knowledge of the settlor
does the word “trust” matter and what cases back up your answer
- No
- Re Kayford Ltd [1975] 1 WLR 279 (Ch) 282: Trust created without use of the word ‘trust’
- Tito v Waddell (No 2) [1977] Ch 106 (Ch) 225: No trust despite the use of the word ‘trust’
what imperative words might be required
- Imperative words required: ‘on trust for’, ‘I declare’, ‘I direct’
What cases use precatory words (3)
- Lambe v Eames: gave the property to her widow, ‘in any way she may think best.’ Not a trust. Court doesn’t look at moral intentions.
- Re Adams and Kensington Vestry: gave everything to his wife. ‘in full confidence that she will do what is right’. Doesn’t create a trust
- Re Diggles: ‘it is my desire’. Loosely worded wish. Not binding.
cases for looking for the substance of the intention
- Comiskey v Bowring Hanbury
- Re Steele’s WT
why was Midland Bank v Wyatt considered a “sham”
- the declaration of trust was not what it purported to be but a pretence
- He never intended to hand over the family home to his wife and daughters
SC Mezhdunarodniy Promyshlenniy Bank v Pugachev [2017]
- Massively Discretionary Trust
- There was no certainty of intention to set up a trust
What is Certainty of Subject Matter (Property)
- Identifying the Property
- T needs to know what to manage!