Private and Corporate Trusts

A Trust (or Settlement) is an arrangement where property is held by one party, the trustees, for the benefit of another, the beneficiaries or a specific purpose. A trust is created by a settlor or also called the grantor, who transfers some or all of his or her property to a trustee. The trustee holds that property for the trust's beneficiaries or specific purpose.

While trustees do own trust assets in terms of legal title, they can’t get beneficial interest from them. In essence, they can’t make a profit from the assets for themselves and these assets can’t (at any rate in common law jurisdictions) be sought after by a trustee’s personal creditors.