ABSTRACT
A plaintiff who requests a "remedial constructive trust" seeks a declaration that he has a beneficial interest in specific property owned, or in the possession of, a defendant who has been unjustly enriched by that ownership or possession. If successful, the relief that the plaintiff obtains is proprietary in the sense that it gives the successful plaintiff rights in the specific property which are good, not only against the defendant, but also against most others, including and most especially, the general creditors of the defendant. The remedial constructive trust will have the effect of giving the constructive trust beneficiary a priority over the unpaid general creditors of the constructive trustee with respect to the trust property. For a variety of compelling reasons, these considerations should produce a different approach in cases involving the division of spousal property than that used in purely commercial relationships.
