this question is on half secret trust , mainly you have to see 3 components, intention, communication, and acceptance.
1/ communication is done orally.
2/ communication done before will execute.
3/ it can assume that acceptance has done clearly.
a) David is the secret beneficiary, Under s 15 of the Wills Act 1837, a gift by will to a beneficiary fails if the beneficiary/
his spouse/his civil partner witnesses the will. but under a secret trust operates dehors the will and therefore is not governed by the provisions of the Wills Act 1837. therefore trust is valid. You should mention that this decision has been criticised for a number of reasons, notably, the secret trust was not completely constituted until the trust property vested in the secret trustee, i.e. on the death of the testatrix. Also a will may be revoked at any time before the testatrix’s death but the decision suggests that a will containing a secret trust cannot be altered once the secret trustee has agreed to act as such.
David predeceased Edward, Under s 25 of the Wills Act 1837, a gift by will to a beneficiary who predeceases the testator lapses, i.e. fails. A secret trust arises outside (dehors) the will and therefore is not governed by the provisions of the Wills Act 1837.
b) David witness discuss above, lear predeceased Edward, in the case of a half-secret trust, it is clear that lear
holds the £5000 as trustee, i.e. he is not a beneficiary under the will, and therefore the secret trust will not fail if he predeceases the testator. Ideally, Edward, would need to execute a new will and arrange for someone else to be the half-secret trustee but if he omitted to do so, the maxim ‘equity will not allow a trust to fail for want of a trustee’ would apply and, provided the terms of the half-secret trust could be identified, it is likely that Edward’s personal representative (executor) would act as trustee.
c) During his lifetime, the testator must communicate the terms of the trust to the secret trustee. The rationale for this principle seems to be that the secret trustee should have the right to reject the trusteeship when he is told of the terms of the trust. However, against this rationale, there is obiter dicta relating to a half-secret tr