Wallgrave v Tebbs
A legatee who did not know of the testator's intended purposes during his lifetime takes the gift free of any secret trust.
Facts
Mr Coles left £12,000 and some land by will to Mr Tebbs and Mr Martin, absolutely. He had intended them to use the property to build a church and for other charitable purposes, and had left papers to that effect, but he never told them so during his lifetime. Some of the purposes were void under the law of mortmain. The testator's heirs claimed that Mr Tebbs and Mr Martin held the property on trust for these purposes, and that the trust was void, so the property belonged to them.
Legal principle
Page Wood V-C held that Mr Tebbs and Mr Martin took the property absolutely, free from any trust. Since the testator had never communicated his intentions to them during his lifetime, they had not accepted any obligation, and there could be no fraud in their keeping the property. A secret trust arises only where the legatee has expressly or tacitly agreed to carry out the testator's wishes.
Related cases on secret trusts and mutual wills
- Blackwell v Blackwell [1929] AC 318
- Re Boyes (1884) 26 Ch D 531
- Re Cleaver [1981] 1 WLR 939
- Re Gardner (No 2) [1923] 2 Ch 230
- Re Goodchild [1997] 1 WLR 1216
- Healey v Brown [2002] EWHC 1405 (Ch), [2002] WTLR 849
- Kasperbauer v Griffith [2000] WTLR 333
- Re Keen [1937] Ch 236
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