In law a settlor is a person who settles property on express trust for the benefit of beneficiaries. In some legal systems, a settlor is also referred to as a trustor, or occasionally, a grantor or donor.^[1] Where the trust is a testamentary trust, they are usually referred to as the testator. The settlor may also be the trustee of the trust (where he declares that he holds his own property on trusts) or a third party may be the trustee (where he transfers the property to the trustee on trusts). In the common law it has been held, controversially, that where a trustee declares an intention to transfer trust property to a trust of which he is one of several trustees, that is a valid settlement notwithstanding the property is not vested in the other trustees.^[2] This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... A testator is a person who has made a legally binding will or testament, which specifies what is to be done with that persons penis family and/or property after death. ... The word trustee is a legal term that refers to a holder of property on behalf of some other beneficiary. ... This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ...

Capacity to be a trustee is generally co-extensive with the ability to hold and dispose of a legal or beneficial interest in property. In practice, special considerations only ever arise in relations to minors and mentally incapacitated.

A settlor may create a trust by manifesting an intention to create it. In most countries no formalities are required to create an inter vivos trust over personal property, but there are often formalities associated with trusts over real property,^[3] or testamentary trusts.^[4] The words or acts of the settlor must be sufficient to establish an intention that either another person or the settlor himself shall be trustee of the property the beneficiary; a general intention to benefit another person on its own is sufficient.^[5] These formalities apply to express trusts only, and not to resulting, implied or constructive trusts. The factual accuracy of this article is disputed. ... In the common law, a will or testament is a document by which a person (the testator) regulates the rights of others over his property or family after death. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

For a settlor to validly create a trust, in most common law legal systems they must satisfy the three certainties:^[6]

1. certainty of intention - whether the settlor (or testator) has manifested an intention to create a trust.
2. certainty of subject matter - whether the property identified as being settled is sufficiently accurately identified.^[7]
3. certainty of objects - the beneficiaries must be clearly ascertainable within the perpetuity period.^[8]

Where a settlement of property on a third party trustee by a settlor fails, the property is usually said to be held on resulting trusts for the settlor. However, if a settlor validly transfers property to a third party, and the words used are held not to create a trust, the usual rule is that the donee take the property absolutely.^[9] A resulting trust is a type of implied trust created through implication of law where the actions of the parties involved and the nature of the transaction implies an intention to create a trust. ...

See also

• Express trust
• Offshore trust
• Taxation of trusts (United Kingdom)
• Trust law

Where property is passed to a person but no gift is made, it is held for the owner, this is the Resulting trust; where property should for some reason of public policy or fairness or rule of Equity be held for someone other than the legal owner, this is either... An offshore trust is simply a conventional trust that is formed under the laws of an offshore jurisdiction. ... The taxation of trusts in the United Kingdom is governed by a different set of principles to those tax laws which apply to individuals or companies. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Footnotes

1. ^ In common law legal systems outside of the U.S.A., a donor is usually refer to someone who grants a "power" in distinction to a "trust".
2. ^ T Choithram International SA and others v Pagarani and others [2001] 2 All ER 492
3. ^ For example, in the United Kingdom, evidence in writing is required to create a trust in land, see section 53(1)(b) of the Law of Property Act 1925; although a failure to comply with the section renders the trust unenforceable and not void, see Gardner v Rowe (1828) 5 Russ 258
4. ^ In the United Kingdom, see section 9 of the Wills Act 1837, as amended by section 17 of the Administration of Justice Act 1982
5. ^ See for example Paul v Constance [1977] 1 WLR 521
6. ^ Knight v Knight (1840) 3 Beav 148 at 173
7. ^ Trust which have been held to fail include trusts over "the bulk of my estate" (Palmer v Simmonds (1854) 2 Drew 221), "such parts of my ... estate as she shall not have sold" (Re Jones [1898] 1 Ch 438), "anything that is left" (In the Estate of Last [1958] P 137) and "all my other houses" [meaning after prior legatees had chosen which houses they wished] (Boyce v Boyce (1849) 16 Sim 476). But these cases should be contrasted with those where the subject-matter of the gift is determined by the discretion of the trustees, for example, in Re Golay's Will Trusts [1965] 1 WLR 969 where a direction to allow a beneficiary to "enjoy one of my flats during her lifetime and to receive a reasonable income from my other properties" was upheld as the trustees could select and decide the matters. Certum est quod certum reddi potest.
8. ^ "It is clear law that a trust (other than a charitable trust) must be for ascertainable beneficiaries", per Lord Denning in Re Vandervell's Trusts (No 2) [1974] Ch 269 at 319
9. ^ Lassence v Tierney (1849) 1 Mac & Cr 551