Legal
Ownership vs. Beneficial / Equitable Ownership
 Under UK Law, the difference
between legal ownership and beneficial (or equitable) ownership
is taken into account.
To illustrate, if you are the absolute
owner of a piece of property, you have both legal and beneficial
interest in
it. In other words,
besides being the registered owner on the title deeds, you
can also benefit from gains produced by the property.
Absolute
ownership (having both legal and beneficial/equitable interest)
can be divided. For example, you can keep legal
interest in your property while allowing a third party
to benefit from
gains the property produces.
It is also possible to transfer
legal interest to a third party while giving beneficial interest
to another. Whether
you want
to effect this before or after your death, the division
is accomplished by creating a trust.
The trust allows
you to create an interest in the asset for the benefit of
a third party while not necessarily
transferring
legal
interest at the same time |
