Constructive Trust in United Kingdom

Definition of Constructive Trust

In accordance with the work A Dictionary of Law, this is a description of Constructive Trust : A *trust imposed by equity to protect the interests of the beneficiaries when a trustee or some other person in a fiduciary relationship gains an advantage through his position. It differs from an *implied trust in that no reference is normally made to the expressed or presumed intention of the parties. English law at present recognizes only the institutional constructive trust. This is a trust that automatically comes into being when certain circumstances arise; for example, when a person in a fiduciary position makes an unauthorized profit or when a stranger meddles in a trust. The concept is frequently used in commercial cases but not exclusively so. In a domestic setting, a constructive trust arises when a sole legal owner of property tries to exclude the rights of another person (usually a cohabitee) who has contributed to the purchase price of the property on the understanding that ownership of the property is to be shared, or when the sole legal owner tries to deny an express agreement to share ownership of the property. Other Commonwealth jurisdictions recognize a remedial constructive trust: a trust imposed at the discretion of the court to remedy an injustice. This is not accepted by English courts, although recent case law has suggested that a development in this area is possible.

Constructive and Resulting Trust Defined Case Law

• A selected English Real Property Law Case in relation with constructive and resulting trust defined may be: Jones v Kernott [2012] 1 AC 776, [2011] 3 WLR 1121, [2012] 1 All ER 1265 (SC)
• Year of the above case: 2011

Resources

See Also

Trust
Resulting Trust