Also known as: beneficial interests
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An equitable right or expectancy in property or a trust, as opposed to bare legal title. The interest carries economic benefits and enforcement rights but lacks formal ownership recorded in the name of the holder.
Star Space built a wind tunnel that blocked Park Aircraft from installing antennas on the designated pad. Park Aircraft relocated operations elsewhere and took no enforcement action for sixteen years. The adverse maintenance of the conflicting use for the prescriptive period extinguishes Park Aircraft's beneficial interest in the servitude.
A settlor created a trust leaving an outright remainder to a disabled beneficiary. After the settlor's death, changed circumstances made outright distribution likely to exhaust assets on medical costs. The court authorizes conversion of the remainder into a special needs trust that preserves the assets while advancing the settlor's purpose.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
The personal representative sells estate property to a trust in which the representative holds a substantial beneficial interest. An heir who received no fair disclosure objects. The transaction is voidable at the heir's election because the representative's beneficial interest created a substantial conflict.
A trust instrument names a remainder beneficiary whose interest vests only if the beneficiary survives the life tenant. The remainder beneficiary holds a future beneficial interest that is contingent yet enforceable under the trust terms.
The trust instrument directs the trustee to distribute income and principal according to percentages listed for each named beneficiary. Those percentages constitute the beneficial interests that control all distributions during trust administration.
Land subject to a life estate and remainder interests requires sale to prevent waste. The court orders the sale and places the proceeds in a judicially created trust. The beneficiaries hold the same beneficial interests in the trust proceeds that they previously held in the land.
When a use of property violates a servitude and continues adversely for the prescriptive period, the beneficial interest of the person entitled to enforce the servitude is modified or extinguished to the extent of the violation.
Yes. When circumstances not anticipated by the settlor arise, a court may modify dispositive provisions, including converting an outright remainder into a special needs trust, if the change furthers the trust purposes.
Any sale or encumbrance to a trust in which the personal representative holds a substantial beneficial interest is voidable by an interested person who did not consent after fair disclosure, unless authorized by the will or approved by the court.
Yes. A person who holds a present or future beneficial interest in a trust, whether vested or contingent, is a beneficiary under the Uniform Trust Code definition.
The beneficial interests are those expressly provided in the terms of the trust, and the trustee must administer distributions according to those terms.
…are held in a judicially created trust. The beneficiaries of the trust are the persons who held interests in the land, and the beneficial interests are of the same character as the legal interests which they formally held in the land. See also Simes and Smith, The Law of Future Interest, § 1941 (2d ed. 1956). This Court has long…