Trusts Act 1973 (Qld)

Trusts Act 1973

An Act to consolidate and amend the law relating to trusts, trustees, settled land and charities

Part 1 Preliminary

1 Short title This Act may be cited as the Trusts Act 1973.

2 [Repealed]

3 [Repealed]

4 Application (1) Except where otherwise provided, this Act applies to every trust, as defined in section 5, whether constituted or created before or after the commencement of this Act. (2) Nothing in this Act shall preclude a settlor from conferring on a trustee or other person exercising the powers of a trustee under this Act any powers additional to or larger than those conferred by this Act. (3) Any additional or larger powers so conferred shall, as far as may be, notwithstanding anything in this Act, and unless a contrary intention is expressed in the instrument (if any) creating the trust, operate and be exercisable in the like manner and with all the like incidents effects and consequences as if conferred by this Act. (4) The powers conferred by or under this Act on a trustee are in addition to the powers given by any other Act and by the instrument (if any) creating the trust; but the powers conferred on the trustee by this Act, unless otherwise provided, apply if and so far only as a contrary intention is not expressed in the instrument (if any) creating the trust, and have effect subject to the terms of that instrument. (5) Except where otherwise provided by this Act, this Act does not affect the legality or validity of anything done before the commencement of this Act. (6) This Act binds the Crown not only in right of the State but also, so far as the legislative power of Parliament permits, the Crown in all its other capacities.

5 Definitions In this Act— apart from this Act, when used in relation to land of which there is no trustee, does not include the public trustee, or a trustee appointed pursuant to section 12 or 80, or in whom the trust property is vested pursuant to section 16 or 90. approved form see section 118. authorised investments means investments of trust funds that are— (a) authorised by the instrument creating the trust; or (b) made by the trustee exercising a power of investment under part 3 or under an order under section 94; or (c) authorised by another Act or the general law. bankrupt includes insolvent. benefit, in relation to any person, includes insurance on the life of that person. commencement of this Act means the time when this Act (other than sections 94, 95, 98 and 99) came or comes into operation. contingent right, in relation to land, includes a contingent or executory interest and a possibility coupled with an interest, whether the object of the gift or limitation of the interest or possibility is or is not ascertained; and also a right of entry, whether immediate or future, and whether vested or contingent. conveyance, as applied to any person, includes the execution or doing by that person of every necessary or suitable assurance, act, and thing for conveying, transferring, assigning, appointing, surrendering or otherwise disposing of property. court means the Supreme Court or a judge thereof. execute includes the doing of all acts and things necessary for a conveyance, and with reference to an instrument not under seal means sign. instrument creating the trust includes any deed, will, agreement for a settlement, Act of Parliament, or other instrument, or any number of instruments, whether made or passed before or after, or partly before and partly after, the commencement of this Act. land includes— (a) land of any tenure, and any estate or interest, whether vested or contingent, in land; and (b) mines and minerals, whether or not severed from the surface; and (c) buildings or parts of buildings, whether the division is horizontal, vertical or made in any other way; and (d) a unit comprised in a building units plan registered in the manner provided by or under the Building Units and Group Titles Act 1980; and (e) any other corporeal hereditaments; and (f) rent and any incorporeal hereditament; and (g) an easement, right, privilege, share, interest or benefit in, over or derived from land; and, in this definition, mines and minerals includes any strata or seams or minerals or substances in or under any land, and powers of working or getting them and hereditament means real property which under an intestacy might at common law devolve on an heir. lease includes a bailment. mortgagee includes every person having an estate or interest regarded at law or in equity as merely a security for money and every person deriving title to the mortgage under the original mortgagee; and mortgage has a corresponding meaning. payment, in relation to stocks and securities, includes the deposit or transfer of them. person includes a trustee corporation, a corporation sole and a corporation aggregate. personal representative means the executor, original or by representation, or the administrator for the time being of the estate of a deceased person. person not under a disability, and any like expression, means a person of full age and full mental capacity. possession includes receipt of income or the right to receive the income (if any); and possessed applies to receipt of income of and to any vested estate less than a life interest, at law or in equity, in possession or in expectancy in any land. public accountant means— (a) a person registered, or taken to be registered, as an auditor under the Corporations Act; or (b) a member of the Australian Society of Certified Practising Accountants or the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia; or (c) a person who holds a public practising certificate issued by the Institute of Public Accountants and has completed a tertiary course of study in accounting with an auditing component from a university or institute prescribed under the Corporations Act, section 1280(2A); or (d) a person approved by the chief executive who has completed a tertiary course of study in accounting with an auditing component from a university or institute prescribed under the Corporations Act, section 1280(2A). public trustee means the public trustee constituted by the Public Trustee Act 1978. registered valuer means a valuer registered under the Valuers Registration Act 1992. registrar means the registrar of titles. rent includes a rent service or a rent charge, or other rent, toll, duty, royalty or annual or periodic payment in money or money's worth reserved or issuing out of or charged upon land, but does not include mortgage interest. repealed Acts means the Acts that pursuant to the Trustees and Executors Acts Amendment Act 1964 might have been cited as the Trustees and Executors Acts 1897 to 1964. sale includes an exchange. securities includes debentures, stock and shares; and securities payable to bearer includes securities transferable by delivery or by delivery and endorsement. statutory trustee means a person— (a) who, in respect of land referred to in section 6 may exercise the powers by this Act conferred or capable of being conferred on a trustee; but (b) who, apart from this Act, is not a trustee of such land. stock includes shares, and, so far as relates to vesting orders made by the court under this Act, includes any fund, annuity or security transferable in books kept by any corporation or society, or by instrument of transfer, either alone or accompanied by other formalities, and any share or interest therein. transfer, in relation to stock or securities, includes the performance and execution of every deed, power of attorney, act, and thing on the part of the transferor to effect and complete the title in the transferee. trust does not include the duties incidental to an estate conveyed by way of mortgage, but with that exception trust extends to implied, resulting, bare and constructive trusts, and to cases where the trustee has a beneficial interest in the trust property, and to the duties incidental to the office of a personal representative. trustee includes— (a) a trustee corporation; and (b) any other corporation in which property subject to a trust is vested; and (c) any person who immediately before the commencement of this Act was a trustee of the settlement or in any way a trustee under the Settled Land Act 1886 and who, if that Act had not been repealed, would be such a trustee; and (d) a personal representative; and (e) a statutory trustee within the meaning of this Act. trustee corporation means the public trustee or a trustee company under the Trustee Companies Act 1968. trust property includes— (a) property settled on any trust, whether express, implied, resulting, bare, or constructive; and (b) property subject to a trust or direction for sale, however arising; and (c) land which is lawfully vested in any person for an estate for the person's own or any other life, or for a term of years determinable on life not being a mere lease at rent, or for any greater estate not being a fee simple absolute; and (d) land in respect of which any person has, by virtue of any will, a personal licence to reside for the person's own life, or for the life of any other person or persons, or for any lesser period.