200757 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Settlor, Fiduciary, Natural Person

• School: UWS
• Department: University of Western Sydney
• Course: 200757
• Professor: anonymous

Document Summary

A testamentary trust is created by a will and arises after the death of the settlor. An inter vivos trust is created during the settlor"s lifetime by a trust instrument. An irrevocable trust can be "broken" (revoked) only by a judicial proceeding. The trustee is the legal owner of the property in trust, as fiduciary for the beneficiary or beneficiaries who is/are the equitable owner(s) of the trust property. Trustees thus have a fiduciary duty to manage the trust to the benefit of the equitable owners. They must provide a regular accounting of trust income and expenditures. Trustees may be compensated and be reimbursed their expenses. A court of competent jurisdiction can remove a trustee who breaches his/her fiduciary duty. Some breaches of fiduciary duty can be charged and tried as criminal offences in a court of law. A trustee can be a natural person, a business entity or a public body.