ABSTRACT
In short, it should be said that it is open to the settlor to do whatever she wishes when creating a trust: the terms of the trust are the rule-book which the settlor creates to govern the way in which the trustee is to behave and to set out the entitlements of various classes of beneficiary. So, the common answer to the question ‘what must the trustees do?’ is quite simply ‘read what the terms of the trust say’. In some situations, however, it is necessary to look at some of the mandatory rules of the law relating to trusts: that is, those rules which prohibit or require certain kinds of activity before a trust will be enforced.
