Purpose Trusts
Whilst in most common law jurisdictions, trusts must either be formed for the benefit of persons, or charitable purposes, many offshore jurisdictions have also amended their laws to permit trusts to be formed for non-charitable purposes. Such trusts need to enforce a "protector" to be able to enforce the terms of the trust, but doubt remains as to who should be treated as the beneficial owner of the trust funds for tax purposes prior to its distribution.
Interestingly, no offshore jurisdiction yet appears to have made a serious effort to expand upon the flexibility of discretionary trusts in relation to certainty of objects, as expounded in McPhail v Doulton. This may be because the common law rules are now considered to be sufficiently flexible to make no widening necessary to attract trust business.
Read more about this topic: Offshore Trust
Famous quotes containing the words purpose and/or trusts:
“I don’t think life is absurd. I think we are all here for a huge purpose. I think we shrink from the immensity of the purpose we are here for.”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)
“No married woman ever trusts her husband absolutely, nor does she ever act as if she did trust him. Her utmost confidence is as wary as an American pickpocket’s confidence that the policeman on the beat will stay bought.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)