Express Trust Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Express Trust - Essay Example This may also be associated with duty which by the ethical and moral norms of society you must perform. This is even characterized as a higher form of justice and so important to modern human relations that it has been transformed from a purely ethical concept with limited application to a moral norm of society. Every member of society is bound to uphold it and even becomes embodied in laws. Express trusts are "built around concepts of loyalty and good faith" (Hudson 2008). In an express trust there exist a relationship where a person entrusts his or her property to another to keep, preserve and latter to give the same property to another person who is meant to benefit from that property. Moreover "The trustee is one example of a more general concept of English law: the fiduciary. Thus, it is often said that trustees bear 'fiduciary duties'. For our purposes the terms 'trustee' and 'fiduciary' can be read as being synonymous. The fiduciary principle in express trusts is the idea that such trusts have a nature that it is a matter of confidence, good faith, loyalty and legal obligation to the purpose of such trusts. An example of this is when a grandfather entrusts a piece of land to his son which his son will give to the grandson on his 18th birthday. The father, son of the grandfather, has the duty to his father, the grandfather to keep, preserve and maintain the piece of land and later give the land to his son, the grandson. Duties & Powers Question: What are the powers and duties of the settlor What are the powers and duties of a trustee What are the powers and duties of the beneficiary Answer: The settlor is duty bound to make certain that the property that will be put into an express trust is truly owned by him because "the settlor must have had all of the rights in that property, or 'absolute title', before the declaration of the trust". Clearly, one cannot deal with property in which one has no rights: therefore, the settlor must hold all of the rights to be settled on trust before that trust can be declared" (Hudson 2008). The settlor is the original owner of the property involved in the trust. Thus absolute title means that the right to do with the property as he or she pleases regardless of the concern of others or free of implications to other individuals. This includes sell, lease, destroy and even donate. The settlor has absolute power over the property up to when the trust is constituted. Once it begins his direct power over the property is set aside and he is duty bound to give possession of the property to the trustee. "Once the trust is created, the trustee acquires 'legal title' in the trust fund and the beneficiaries acquire the 'equitable interest' (or, sometimes, 'beneficial interest') in the trust fund in accordance with the terms of the trus