Maya as sole beneficiary

The shop

Maya is settling a family trust. She has capacity. She is of sound mind. She will transfer a portfolio of listed shares, not a house, to a qualified trustee in Mauritius. She would like to be able to benefit. She would also like the deed to name her as the only beneficiary, “so the trustee is not confused by children.” She may later be a protector. She will not be the sole trustee. Those facts match the short simulation in the trusts course. This file is the week around the signing, not a second copy of the switch.

The draft deed on the desk names Maya as settlor and as sole beneficiary. A letter of wishes, unsigned, says the trustee should consider her two children if Maya asks. The children are not named in the deed. A side letter from her tax adviser discusses her residence. It is clipped to the trust file by mistake.

The week

Monday. Maya reads section 8 and says the first sentence allows a settlor to be a beneficiary, so the second sentence can be “managed” by the letter of wishes.

Tuesday. The trustee’s counsel marks the sole-beneficiary sentence and refuses to date the deed. He asks whether the children are to be beneficiaries now, or whether Maya accepts that this draft does not work.

Wednesday. Someone proposes naming the children as beneficiaries and leaving Maya’s letter of wishes to say they should receive nothing unless she later asks. The counsel says that is a different deed, and a letter of wishes the trustee may regard and may refuse to follow.

Thursday. Maya asks if being protector, or a co-trustee with the qualified trustee, cures the beneficiary line. It does not. Those are other offices. The stop is about the sole beneficiary.

Friday. She agrees to name herself and the two children. The tax adviser’s note is taken off the trust file and sent back to the tax course. Nationality is not the question this deed is failing.

What they ask

Papers next door

The tax adviser’s residence note is a Mauritius Tax question. Section 8 does not answer it. A purpose trust is a different kind of trust, with an enforcer rather than a beneficiary as the person who enforces the purpose. This file is a beneficiary trust. Confidentiality and the trustee’s register, including the April 2026 notification duty, are duties of the trustee once the trust exists. They do not validate a deed section 8(2) does not allow.

The statute

Section 3 is why this is a trust: the trustee will hold property of which the trustee is not owner in his own right, for a beneficiary. Section 6 is why the express trust needs a written instrument with the statutory particulars, including duration. Section 8(2) is the beneficiary line this draft failed. Section 27 is the letter of wishes, which the trustees may regard and need not follow. Duration for a trust that is not a purpose trust must still be read under section 9 before the deed is dated.

The simulation lets you choose “Maya alone” or “Maya and her two children” and see the stop. This week is how the letter of wishes, the protector line and the tax note were offered as ways around it. They are not.