Adela's False

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In this scenario, Adela made a will and has appointed her solicitor, Russel Rance as an executor and trustee. In order for a trust instrument to be valid, it must show the certainty of intention, the certainty of subject matter and the certainty of objects. These requirements have been set up in many cases, for example, by Lord Langdale in Knight v Knight. It can be argued that the essence of a trust is to impose a binding obligation on the trustees .

(a) In disposition ‘a’, Adela has directed Russell Rance to hold 500 of her shares in Rainbow Limited for Denzel, in the full conviction that he will sell and divide the proceeds equally among the children she has fostered. In order for this declaration of trust to be valid, all the three requirements …show more content…

Adela has shown clear intention to give Russel Rance a discretionary and fiduciary power to distribute the remainder of the estate as he shall ‘consider appropriate’. The subject in this disposition is the ‘remainder of my estate’. This is sufficiently capable of ascertainment to form the subject matter of the trust. It can be argued that the estate has been segregated by Adela from a larger amount. The executor can easily calculate the residuary estate. The problem in this disposition is the certainty of objects because the names of the beneficiaries have not been provided. It can be argued that Russel needs to know the beneficiaries in order to distribute the trust property. Since, Russel was given the power of appointment, the test known as ‘given postulant test’ will be applied. Hence, the trustee will not be under a duty to distribute but under a duty to consider. Also not every member of the class of objects needs to be considered as long as it is ascertainable that any given postulant either is in the class or is not. Although it is not possible to ascertain every member of the class, the power does not fail. This has been confirmed by Re

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