Define: Fully Secret Trust

A fully secret trust is a legal arrangement where a testator leaves property to a trustee in a will, with instructions to hold the property for the benefit of a beneficiary without explicitly stating the terms of the trust in the will. Unlike express trusts, which are clearly outlined in the will or other legal documents, a fully secret trust remains undisclosed in the will, and the terms of the trust are communicated orally or in a separate document by the testator to the trustee. The trustee is obligated to follow the instructions provided by the testator, keeping the trust arrangement confidential from other beneficiaries or interested parties. Fully secret trusts are subject to specific legal requirements and must be established with clear evidence of the testator’s intentions and the trustee’s acceptance of their role.

A fully secret trust is a trust declared in a will where there is no indication that a trust exists at all but appears as an absolute gift to the recipient. For example, “£50,000 to Eliza”. Communication of the fully secret trust must take place during the testator’s lifetime: Wallgrave v Tebbs [1855] 2 K & J 313: “[the court] en-grafts the trust on the devise, by admitting evidence which the statute would in terms exclude, in order to prevent a party from applying property to a purpose foreign to that for which he undertook to hold it”-per Wood VC.

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This glossary post was last updated: 29th March 2024.