9. Flexibility of benefit

Abstract

According to the so-called ‘rule in Saunders v. Vautier’, the beneficiaries of an expressly created private trust may terminate the trust if they are in unanimous agreement and are all competent adults, and are, between them, absolutely entitled to the trust property. This chapter examines the issue of ‘flexibility of benefit’, the extent to which beneficiaries may be able to take benefits under a trust despite limitations on their beneficial ownership, as well as the extent to which limitations on their beneficial ownership may be varied or entirely removed. It shows that under the Trustee Act 1925, trustees have a discretionary power—known as ‘the power of maintenance’—to apply income for the benefit of infant beneficiaries and a similar discretionary power, termed ‘the power of advancement’, to apply capital for the benefit of a beneficiary (infant or adult) out of his/her anticipated entitlement to the trust fund.