The beneficiary is the third party for whose benefit and profit the trust asset is held and managed by the Trustee. Beneficiaries may be individuals or entities. The beneficiary or beneficiaries may be either specifically named in the Trust Deed or may be a sufficiently defined group of persons, for example “all children and grandchildren.” As a particular twist the settlor of a trust may also be named as the beneficiary, but may not be the sole beneficiary.
The main purpose of trusts is to ensure that the beneficiaries receive some kind of benefit from the trust and its assets, without actually owning those assets themselves. These benefits can be a payment or payments of income from the trust, regular distributions from the trust, or up to the Trustee’s discretion. Another possibility is that the corpus of trust assets is transferred to the beneficiaries in full at a certain time or upon the occurrence of a specified event. Details regarding the beneficiaries’ benefits are set forth in the trust deed.
Seychelles also supports trusts for charitable purposes, as well as general purpose trusts.