Equity will not assist a volunteer, so a settlor who falls short of completing the transfer often leaves the intended beneficiary with nothing. This chapter starts with what constitution requires and the three routes by which it can be achieved, then works through the three certainties and the formality rules for declaring a trust over land. It moves on to self-declarations and testamentary trusts, and then to transfers to third-party trustees, where the way legal title passes differs for registered land, company shares, cash and chattels. Finally, it sets out the general rule against perfecting imperfect gifts, the exceptions — the 'everything in their power' principle, the executorship route and donatio mortis causa — and the consequences of full constitution for settlor and beneficiary, closing with a structured method for analysing incompletely constituted trusts.
