Re Abbott Fund Trusts
Where a fund raised for the benefit of particular people has a surplus after their deaths, the surplus is held on resulting trust for the subscribers.
Facts
A fund was raised by subscriptions for the relief of two deaf and dumb ladies, who had been deprived of their inheritance by a relative. The fund was used for their maintenance until they died, and a surplus remained. The question was whether the surplus belonged to the ladies' estates, or to the subscribers.
Legal principle
Stirling J held that the surplus was held on resulting trust for the subscribers. The ladies had not been given the fund absolutely, because the subscribers had intended the money to be used only for their benefit during their lives, and not to pass to their estates. When that purpose had been fulfilled, the remaining money resulted to the subscribers in proportion to their contributions.
Related cases on resulting trusts
- Air Jamaica Ltd v Charlton [1999] 1 WLR 1399
- Barclays Bank Ltd v Quistclose Investments Ltd [1970] AC 567
- Bennet v Bennet (1879) 10 Ch D 474
- Dyer v Dyer (1788) 2 Cox Eq 92
- Fowkes v Pascoe (1875) LR 10 Ch App 343
- Re Gillingham Bus Disaster Fund [1958] Ch 300
- Hussey v Palmer [1972] 1 WLR 1286
- Laskar v Laskar [2008] EWCA Civ 347, [2008] 1 WLR 2695
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