Declaration of trust

A document in which a person declares that he holds (or two or more persons declare that they hold) assets on trust for the benefit of one or more beneficiaries.

A declaration of trust may create a new trust or may confirm the terms of an existing trust. A settlor may create a trust using a declaration of trust, rather than by transferring assets to third party trustees, if it is not possible to transfer the assets for some reason (for example, see Practice note, Transferring trust assets: Transferring part of an asset).

For information about how to create a trust, see Practice note, Creating a trust: overview. For precedents for declarations of trust, see PLC Private Client: standard documents and drafting notes: Other trust deeds.