Validity of a Trust

(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, a trust shall be valid and enforceable in accordance with its terms. (2) A trust shall be invalid and unenforceable– (a) to the extent that– (i) it purports to do anything contrary to the law of Belize; (ii) it purports to confer any right or power or impose any obligation the exercise of which or the carrying out of which is contrary to the law of Belize; or (iii) it has no beneficiary identifiable or ascertainable (unless the trust was created for a valid charitable or non- charitable purpose); or (b) to the extent that the Court declares that– (i) the trust was established by duress, fraud, mistake, undue influence or misrepresentation; (ii) the trust is immoral or contrary to public policy; 12 (iii) the terms of the trust are so uncertain that its performance is rendered impossible, provided that a charitable purpose shall be deemed always to be capable of performance; or (iv) the settlor was, at the time of its creation, incapable under the law in force in Belize of creating such a trust. (3) Where a trust is created for two or more purposes of which some are lawful and others are not or where some of the terms of a trust are invalid and others are not– (a) if those purposes cannot be separated or the terms cannot be separated, the trust is invalid; or (b) if those purposes can be separated or the terms can be separated, the Court may declare that the trust is valid as to the terms which are valid and the purposes which are lawful. (4) Where a trust is partially invalid, the Court may declare what property is to be held subject to the trust. (5) Property provided by a settlor and as to which a trust is invalid shall, subject to any order of the Court, be held by the trustee in trust for the settlor absolutely or, if he is dead, as if it had formed part of his estate at his death. (6) Where a trust is created under the law of Belize, the Court shall not vary it or set it aside or recognise the validity of any claim against the trust property pursuant to the law of another jurisdiction or the order of a court of another jurisdiction in respect to– (a) the personal and proprietary consequences of marriage or the termination of marriage; 13 (b) succession rights, whether testate or intestate, including the fixed shares of spouses or relatives; or (c) the claims of creditors in an insolvency. CAP. 190. CAP. 244. CAP. 171. (7) Sub-section (6) shall have effect notwithstanding the provisions of section 149 of the Law of Property Act, section 43 of the Bankruptcy Act, and the provisions of the Reciprocal Enforcement of Judgments Act.