Section 31Part 1 — Trusts Act
Distribution of assets after notice by executor or administrator
←→ Navigate · Click subsection badges to collapse · Press ? for help
Where an executor or administrator has given such or the like notices as, in the opinion of the court in which such executor or administrator is sought to be charged, would have been given by the Court in an administration suit, for creditors and others to send in to the executor or administrator their claims against the estate of the testator or intestate, such executor or administrator shall, at the expiration of the time limited in the said notices or the last of the said notices for sending in such claims, be at liberty to distribute the assets of the testator or intestate, or any part thereof, amongst the parties entitled thereto, having regard to the claims of which such executor or administrator has then notice, and shall not be liable for the assets or any part thereof so distributed to any person of whose claim such executor or administrator has not had notice at the time of the distribution of the said assets or part thereof as the case may be; but nothing herein contained shall prejudice the right of any creditor or claimant to follow the assets or any part thereof into the hands of the person or persons who may have received the same respectively. Powers of Maintenance and Advancement, and Protective Trusts 32. Power to apply income for maintenance and to accumulate surplus income during a minority 32 .
Where any property is held by trustees in trust for any person for any interest whatsoever, whether vested or contingent, then, subject to any prior interests or charges affecting that property —
during the infancy of any such person, if that person’s interest so long continues, the trustees may, at their sole discretion, pay to that person’s parent or guardian, if any, or otherwise apply for or towards that person’s maintenance, education or benefit, the whole or such part, if any, of the income of that property as may, in all the circumstances, be reasonable, whether or not there is —
any other fund applicable to the same purpose; or
any person bound by law to provide for that person’s maintenance or education; and
if such person on attaining the age of eighteen years has not a vested interest in such income, the trustees shall henceforth pay the income of that property and of any accretion thereto under subsection
to that person, until that person either attains a vested interest therein or dies, or until failure of that person’s interest: Provided that in deciding whether the whole or any part of the income of the property is, during a minority, to be paid or applied for the purposes aforesaid, the trustees shall have regard to the age of the infant and that person’s requirements and generally to the circumstances of the case, and in particular to what other income, if any, is applicable for the same purposes; and where trustees have notice that the income of more than one fund is applicable for this purpose, then so far as practicable, unless the entire income of the funds is paid or applied as aforesaid or the Court otherwise directs, a proportionate part only of the income of each fund shall be so paid or applied. (2) During the infancy of any such person, if that person’s interest so long continues, the trustees shall accumulate all the residue of that income in the way of compound interest by investing the same and the resulting income thereof from time to time in authorised investments, and shall hold those accumulations —
if any such person —
attains the age of eighteen years or marries under that age, and that person’s interest in such income during that person’s infancy or until that person’s marriage is a vested interest, or
on attaining the age of eighteen years or on marriage under that age, becomes entitled to the property from which such income arose in fee simple, absolute or determinable, or absolutely, or for an entailed interest, in trust for such person absolutely, and so that the receipt of such person after marriage, and though still an infant, shall be a good discharge; and
in any other case, notwithstanding that such person had a vested interest in such income, as an accretion to the capital of the property from which such accumulations arose, and as one fund with such capital for all purposes, and so that, if such property is settled land, such accumulations shall be held upon the same trusts as if the same were capital money arising therefrom, but the trustees may, at any time during the infancy of such person, if that person’s interest so long continues, apply those accumulations, or any part thereof, as if they were income arising in the then current year.
This section applies in the case of a contingent interest only if the limitation or trust carries the intermediate income of the property, but it applies to a future or contingent legacy by the parent of, or a person standing in loco parentis to, the legatee, if and for such period as, under the general law, the legacy carries interest for the maintenance of the legatee, and in any such case as last aforesaid the rate of interest shall (if the income available is sufficient, and subject to any rules of court to the contrary) be five per cent per annum.
This section applies to a vested annuity in like manner as if the annuity were the income of property held by trustees in trust to pay the income thereof to the annuitant for the same period for which the annuity is payable, save that, in any case, accumulations made during the infancy of the annuitant shall be held in trust for the annuitant or that person’s personal representatives absolutely.