Legal aspects of the right to beneficial interest in a trust context

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to examine the right to beneficial interest in a trust context and the corresponding duty of the trustee to protect such right from different angles. Once it is established that there may be no valid trust without a beneficiary or beneficiaries followed by a detailed examination of the three possible types of beneficiaries, the thesis attempts to examine the extent to which the figure of the beneficiary plays a pivotal role in trust law. As our law docs not provide neatly in u section the different types of beneficial interest and Article 9 of the Trusts & Trustees Act provides that a beneficiary must be either identifiable by name or otherwise ascertainable by reference to other facts, this thesis will reveal that the dicta developed in Maltese cases may guide a Court in determining whether a beneficiary is ascertainable or identifiable. Reference is also made to important interpretative rules that may be relevant in the trusts scenario and that are likewise contained in the Civil Code. This thesis will take particular interest in the manner in which the rights of the beneficiaries could be exercised in order to control the trustees. Reference is made to the principle in Saunders v Vautier which provides that there are situations when the beneficiaries, acting together can direct the trustees how to deal with the trust fund. It is of course critical for the purpose of this thesis to contrast the position of beneficiaries appointed in terms of a power with the position of non-vested beneficiaries in the sense that a beneficiary in whose favour a discretion to appoint or advance may be exercised does not enjoy rights in or to specific trust property until such person is appointed or trust property is advanced to him. In the interim period the potential beneficiary has the tight to be properly and fairly considered by the trustee.