Most trusts must benefit identifiable people who can hold the trustees to account. Charitable trusts break that rule: they benefit a purpose, and in exchange the law grants them remarkable privileges — they can last forever, enjoy generous tax treatment, and are enforced by the state rather than a private beneficiary. For a solicitor advising charities, executors, or donors, the practical task is always the same: does this trust qualify as charitable, and if not, what becomes of the gift?
This lesson takes you through that analysis step by step.
- Nature, Privileges and Validity — what makes a trust charitable, the privileges it unlocks, and the three requirements every charity must meet.
- Charitable Purpose — the recognised heads of charity, from poverty and education to religion and the residual analogous category.
- Public Benefit — proving a real benefit reaches a genuine section of the public, and the special rule for poverty.
- Exclusivity and Political Purposes — why a trust must be wholly charitable, and where campaigning is allowed.
- The Cy-près Doctrine — redirecting charitable funds when the chosen purpose fails.
- Non-Charitable Purpose Trusts and Perpetuity — the narrow exceptions for purpose trusts, and the perpetuity limits that bind them.