Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996
Variation of Trusts Act 1958
Wills Act 1837
Remedies
Account of profits
Breach of trust
Damages
Equitable remedy
Tracing
Other
Cy-près
Formalities
History
Trustee liability
Rule against perpetuities
Three certainties
International
Conflict of laws of trusts
Hague Trust Convention
v
t
e
In English law, secret trusts are a class of trust defined as an arrangement between a testator and a trustee, made to come into force after death, that aims to benefit a person without having been written in a formal will. The property is given to the trustee in the will, and he would then be expected to pass it on to the real beneficiary. For these to be valid, the person seeking to enforce the trust must prove that the testator intended to form a trust, that this intention was communicated to the trustee, and that the trustee accepted his office. There are two types of secret trust — fully secret and half-secret. A fully secret trust is one with no mention in the will whatsoever. In the case of a half-secret trust, the face of the will names the trustee as trustee, but does not give the trust's terms, including the beneficiary. The most important difference lies in communication of the trust: the terms of a half-secret trust must be communicated to the trustee before the execution of the will, whereas in the case of a fully secret trust the terms may be communicated after the execution of the will, as long as this is before the testator's death.
Secret trusts do not comply with the formality requirements (such as witnessing) laid down in the Wills Act 1837. Despite this, the courts have chosen to uphold them as valid. Although various justifications have been given for this, they are generally categorised as either based on preventing fraud, or as regarding secret trusts as outside (dehors) the operation of the Wills Act. The first is considered the traditional approach – if the courts do not recognise secret trusts, the trustee given the property in the will would be able to keep it for himself, committing fraud. The fraud theory utilises the equitable maxim that "equity will not allow a statute to be used as a cloak for fraud". A more modern view is that secret trusts exist outside the will altogether, and thus do not have to comply with it. Accepting this theory would undermine the operation of the Wills Act, since the Wills Act is designed to cover all testamentary dispositions. To avoid this problem, one approach has been to reclassify the secret trust as inter vivos ("between the living") but this creates other problems. There have also been attempts to conclude that half-secret trusts rest on a different basis to fully secret trusts, although this has been disapproved by the House of Lords, primarily on practical grounds.
This debate is also of importance when classifying the trust as either constructive or express, a matter of considerable debate. On one view, if the traditional theory is correct, secret trusts are created by the courts, and are thus constructive; if the more modern view is correct, the trusts exist without the court's permission, and are express trusts. However, a secret trust does not have to obey the separate formalities of the Law of Property Act 1925, even when it concerns land and one solution to this problem is to consider them constructive. Some commentators believe that half-secret trusts may fall into a different category to fully secret trusts in this regard.
and 23 Related for: Secret trusts in English law information
InEnglishlaw, secrettrusts are a class of trust defined as an arrangement between a testator and a trustee, made to come into force after death, that...
Quistclose trustsin existing trustslaw: whether they are resulting trusts, express trusts, constructive trusts or, as Lord Millett said in Twinsectra...
Constructive trustsinEnglishlaw are a form of trust created by the Englishlaw courts primarily where the defendant has dealt with property in an "unconscionable...
public interest. As well as charitable trusts, there are several exceptions to the rule against purpose trusts. If the requirement to fulfill a purpose...
a trust; and Semi secrettrusts or half secrettrusts, where the will provides that the legatee is to hold the property on trusts, but does not specify...
Resulting trustsinEnglishlaw are trusts created where property is not properly disposed of. It comes from the Latin resultare, meaning to spring back...
Englishtrustlaw concerns the protection of assets, usually when they are held by one party for another's benefit. Trusts were a creation of the English...
Charitable trustsinEnglishlaw are a form of express trust dedicated to charitable goals. There are various advantages to charitable trust status, including...
Discretionary trusts and powers inEnglishlaw are elements of the Englishlaw of trusts, specifically of express trusts. Express trusts are trusts expressly...
the settlor. Not all trusts where the settlor is also the beneficiary are resulting trusts. In common law systems, express trusts that clearly state the...
UKHL 1 is an Englishtrustslaw case, concerning the doctrine of secrettrusts. A testator gave £12,000 in a codicil to five people on trust, saying they...
The creation of express trustsinEnglishlaw must involve four elements for the trust to be valid: capacity, certainty, constitution and formality. Capacity...
and trusts concerns the origin of the body of rules known as Equity, Uses, Englishtrustlaw and their development into the modern body of trustlaw that...
attacking monopolistic companies (known as trusts) is commonly known as trust busting. The history of competition law reaches back to the Roman Empire. The...
English contract law is the body of law that regulates legally binding agreements in England and Wales. With its roots in the lex mercatoria and the activism...
InEnglishlaw, a secret profit is a profit made by an employee who uses his employer's premises and business facilities in order to engage in unauthorised...
unfair. This can occur insecrettrusts and constructive trusts. If there is no trustee, whoever has legal title to the trust property will be considered...
English criminal law concerns offences, their prevention and the consequences, in England and Wales. Criminal conduct is considered to be a wrong against...
their private information, either from a desire to protect trade secrets, or because of laws and regulations governing various matters such as personal privacy...
Tata Trust and Allied Trusts". Tata Trusts. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2021. Anand, Geeta (17 December 2016). "In India...
Breach of confidence inEnglishlaw is an equitable doctrine that allows a person to claim a remedy when their confidence has been breached. A duty of...
(PDF). Human Dignity Trust. 10 April 2019. Rabiatul Kamit & Bandar Seri Begawan, Kedah Officials in Brunei to Observe Syariah Law, Brunei Times (16 May...
Global Information