A trust that fails these tests fails entirely, with the property bouncing back on resulting trust rather than reaching anyone the settlor intended. This chapter begins with the beneficiary principle and the three certainties — intention, subject matter and objects — including why precatory words of hope or wish fall short. It then sharpens the focus on certainty of objects: the different tests for fixed and discretionary trusts, the line between conceptual and evidential uncertainty, administrative unworkability, and what becomes of the property when certainty is lacking. Finally it explains why non-charitable purpose trusts are generally void, the anomalous exceptions and the requirements for charitable status, and how the contract-holding theory rescues gifts to unincorporated associations — including the fate of surplus funds on dissolution.
