When you advise on a trust, one of the first things you need to work out is the exact nature of each beneficiary's interest. Is it a fixed entitlement, or does it still hang on a condition? The answer drives everything that follows — when a beneficiary can call for the property, what happens if they die first, and who inherits if a gift fails. Getting this right is everyday work for a solicitor drafting wills, administering estates, and advising trustees.
This lesson builds that skill step by step.
- Vested and Contingent Interests Distinguished — what makes an interest vested or contingent, and the difference between being vested in possession and vested in interest.
- Effect of a Beneficiary's Death — what happens to vested and contingent interests when a beneficiary dies before taking the property.
- Conditions and Divestment — how conditions precedent and subsequent work, and what it means to be vested subject to divestment.
- Construing the Trust Wording — the presumption in favour of early vesting and the wording that displaces it.
- Stages an Interest May Pass Through — how an interest moves from contingent to vested in interest to vested in possession.
- Where the Property Goes When a Contingent Interest Fails — the gift-over, residue, and resulting trust hierarchy.