Can Your Trust Be Trusted?

Abstract

This paper is the transcript of the author’s Inaugural Professorial Lecture, delivered at the University of Otago on 23 October 2008. The author discusses and dispels myths and misconceptions about trusts and identifies some of the pitfalls that become apparent when people’s personal or financial circumstances change. The paper begins by examining the common reasons for having trusts, before sketching some typically features of family trusts which tend to create problems when people’s circumstances change. The author concludes by addressing the current legal responses to these problems and suggesting some reforms to trust law to reduce injustice.