Creation of trusts

Perpetuities and accumulations

The rules relating to perpetuities and accumulations stem from the provisions in the Perpetuities and Accumulations Act 1964 and from common law. These increasingly archaic rules were becoming troublesome and as long ago as 1989, the Law Commission started consultations on altering them. This culminated in a paper in 1993 identifying defects in the system and a final report in 1998 with a draft bill. This resulted in the Perpetuities and Accumulations Act 2009 (PAA 2009) which gives effect to that report.

PAA 2009 became operable on 6 April 2010. It seeks to modify and simplify the law by making changes both to the rule against perpetuities (also known as the rule against remoteness of vesting) and the rule against excessive accumulations. Practitioners will still have regard to the old rules that continue to apply in certain cases.

See Practice Note: Perpetuities and accumulations.

Creation of trusts—parties, recitals and testatum

Usually the date on which the settlement was made is set out at the beginning of the trust instrument. The date may be important for subsequent time limits and the

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