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Trusts law & wills question

Hi, need help with trusts law

Lets say Sharon own shares in company X, and she declares she is going to hold 50 of her 200 shares in company X for her sister.
If Sharon unexpectedly dies 1 week later and her will is found, which leaves all her estate (real and personal) to her mother, then who is entitled to the shares?
will it be the sister? if sharon is dead doesn't the trust die as well?

Reply 1

Catherine1973

if this was an exam, I'd explore who the declaration was to? just outloud? or orally to a third party/sister or in writing.

Work out what type of trust it could be (i can guess but i have only done the pre-reading for the course) and then i suppose, is it valid for that type of trust? then you get the outcome.

Reply 2

Lawschoolhack

No- not if the trust is valid

Original post by mrmr.26

Reply 3

Lawschoolhack

Re Catherine’s comments. It doesn’t need to be in writing. It’s an inter vivos express trust. Personally I would be more concerned about the subject matter.🙂

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 4

Catherine1973

no i know it doesn't need to be in writing but don't we have to consider whether it exists/what proof of its existence.

or do we generally ignore such real world issues in exam questions :smile:

Reply 5

Lawschoolhack

I take the view that if the facts of the question state that a property owner has made a declaration; then you can accept that statement at face value.

I accept that there would be practicalities of proof in 'the real world' but, unless it's an exam on the law of evidence, then the facts stated in an exam don't have to be 'proved' at the academic stage of study. It's the same for tort, crime, land etc.

The OP suggests that the student is confused about what happens when a property owner trustee dies following an attempt to declare an inter vivos trust. They key issue in relation to the stated facts is the potential problem with regard to the subject matter. That's what I would concentrate on (unless, of course, Sharon has more than one un-named sister!).