The Law of Trusts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The Law of Trusts - Essay Example As mentioned above there must also be certain of subject matter and certainty of the object. If no specific property has been indicated then the trust will not be valid. Similarly, if the property has been indicated but not clearly defined then the trust will fail. This may happen where the testator attempts to leave the residuary of their estate to another. On some occasions, it may be impossible to identify the trust property, or the property may be unascertained property as in the case of Hunter v Moss [1994] where the courts held that the declaration of trust in respect of shares was not void for certainty because the shares had not been segregated or appropriated. In this case, the court held that the declaration by Moss of holding 5% of the shares on trust for Hunter could be identifiable property as it did not matter which of the shares were to become the property of the other. In order to establish which of the dispositions above is valid, it is necessary to examine the benef iciary principle to determine which of the above meet the criteria and can be classified as beneficiaries. It is also necessary to look at cases that do not satisfy the beneficiary principle but have been treated as valid and the circumstances when the courts have accepted the trust as valid despite not meeting the criteria for the beneficiary principle. One of the main difficulties that could be caused by the above dispositions is in determining whether they are purpose trusts or whether they benefit specific beneficiaries.