ABSTRACT

In this chapter, you consider the topic of secret trusts and the related area of mutual wills. The connecting link between the two topics is that the details of both are based on an agreement which is not necessarily apparent from the documentation. Secret trusts are so called because a testator has made a secret agreement with a trustee that they will hold property on trust for an undisclosed benefi ciary after the testator’s death. Mutual wills are where two people make identical wills and each binds the other to the same undisclosed agreement where their property will go after their deaths.