Re Tucks Case Study

INTRODUCTION

The statement, which is a quote from McPhail v Doulton , is stating that for a trust to be valid the beneficiaries must be able to be identifiable, meaning there are persons with a beneficial interest in the trust. From the case of Re Endacott we know that beneficiaries must be certain or capable to be certain; with out this, the trust will fail. It is so crucial to identify the beneficiaries because the trustees must know to whom they owe an obligation, and so the courts can enforce the trust. Certainty has been said to be the “greatest problems of principle to chancery lawyers” The case of Knight v Knight is one of the most important cases in the area of trust law. It provided the three certainties; a checklist to see if

The courts must be able to form a clear idea of who has a beneficial interest in the trust or in other words it must be possible for the beneficiaries to exist. Lord Denning in Re Tucks Settlement stated, “Conceptual uncertainty arises where a testator or settlor … has not expressed himself clearly enough. He has used words which are too vague and indistinct for a court to apply.” Where there is ambiguity as to who the beneficiaries are the courts will have difficulty validating the

A discretionary trust or power the possible beneficiaries and property is more fluid. This is why it is crucial for the courts to be able to rule undoubtedly who is in the class of beneficiaries and what they are to receive. Fixed trusts, also, many times deal with the issue of successive interest where there can be several remaindermen the courts must be able to identify them based on the information given in the trust . The IRC v Broadway case gave the complete list test for fixed trusts in which the class of beneficiary must be conceptually and evidentially certain as to for a list of beneficiaries.

IRC v Broadway dealt with a trust for employees of the settlor, his wife and selected others. Jenkins LJ emphasised this idea of being able to list all members of a class if there is to be an equal division of property. The courts concluded that the clause provided in the trust was too wide for them to uphold the trust. Compiling a complete list of every employee of the listed employers would be very difficult. This compounded with the fact that there is the possibility of old and new employees coming in and out of employment, are some of the rationale behind their