A trust can lock up property for years while a beneficiary is still a child or while their entitlement waits on some future event. Meanwhile, life goes on — school fees fall due, a young adult needs a deposit for a home. The powers of maintenance and advancement are the tools that let trustees put the fund to use in the meantime, rather than leaving it idle. As a solicitor advising trustees or beneficiaries, you need to know precisely when these powers apply, what limits they carry, and how the picture changes as a beneficiary grows up.
What this lesson covers:
- Overview — what the two statutory powers are, and how they apply even when the trust says nothing about them.
- Maintenance: Scope and Eligibility — applying trust income for a minor, and the two conditions a beneficiary must meet.
- Maintenance: Exercise and Surplus Income — how trustees decide, and what happens to income they don't apply.
- Income Once the Beneficiary Turns 18 — how the rules shift from discretion to obligation at adulthood.
- Power of Advancement — releasing trust capital early, and the conditions for doing so validly.
- Distinctions — the headline contrast between the two powers, and how a sole adult beneficiary can end the trust altogether.