Settled Land Act 1925

Paragraph 3 E+W Provisions as to Infants

3 (1) Where, at the commencement of this Act, an infant is beneficially entitled to land in possession for an estate in fee simple or for a term of years absolute, or would, if of full age, be a tenant for life or have the powers of a tenant for life, the settled land shall, by virtue of this Act, vest in the trustees (if any) of the settlement upon such trusts as may be requisite for giving effect to the rights of the infant and other persons (if any) interested: E+W

provided that, if there are no such trustees, then—

(i) Pending their appointment, the settled land shall, by virtue of this Act, vest in the Public Trustee upon the trusts aforesaid:

(ii) The Public Trustee shall not be entitled to act in the trust, or charge any fee, or be liable in any manner unless and until requested in writing to act on behalf of the infant by his parents or parent or testamentary or other guardian in the order named:

(iii) After the Public Trustee has been so requested to act, and has accepted the trust, he shall become the trustee of the settlement, and no trustee shall (except by an order of the court) be appointed in his place without his consent:

(iv) If there is no other person able and willing to appoint trustees the parents or parent or testamentary or other guardian of the infant, if respectively able and willing to act, shall (in the order named) have power by deed to appoint trustees of the settlement in place of the Public Trustee in like manner as if the Public Trustee had refused to act in the trust, and to vest the settled land in them on the trusts aforesaid, and the provisions of the M1 Trustee Act, 1925, relating to the appointment of new trustees, and the vesting of trust property shall apply as if the persons aforesaid (in the order named) had been nominated by the settlement for the purpose of appointing new trustees thereof; and in default of any such appointment the infant by his next friend, may, at any time during the minority, apply to the court for the appointment of trustees of the settlement, and the court may make such order as it thinks fit, and if thereby trustees of the settlement are appointed, the settled land shall, by virtue of this Act, vest in the trustees as joint tenants upon the trusts aforesaid:

Provided that in favour of a purchaser a statement in the deed of appointment that the father or mother or both are dead or are unable or unwilling to make the appointment shall be conclusive evidence of the fact stated.

(v) If land to which an infant is beneficially entitled in possession for an estate in fee simple or for a term of years absolute vests in the Public Trustee, but the Public Trustee does not become the trustee of the settlement, and trustees of the settlement are not appointed in his place, then, if and when the infant attains the age of twenty-one years, the land shall vest in him.

(2) The provisions of this paragraph shall extend to the legal estate in the settled land, except where such legal estate is, at or immediately after the commencement of this Act, vested in personal representatives, in which case this paragraph shall have effect without prejudice to the provisions of paragraph two of this Schedule.

(3) Where, at the commencement of this Act, any persons appointed under section sixty of the M2 Settled Land Act, 1882, have power to act generally or for any specific purpose on behalf of an infant, then those persons shall, by virtue of this Act, become and be the trustees of the settlement.

(4) Notwithstanding that the settled land is by virtue of this paragraph vested in the trustees of the settlement, they shall, at the cost of the trust estate, in accordance with this Act, execute a principal vesting deed declaring that the settled land is vested in them.

(5) This paragraph does not apply where an infant is beneficially entitled in possession to land for an estate in fee simple or for a term of years absolute jointly with a person of full age (for which case provision is made in the M3 Law of Property Act, 1925), but it applies to two or more infants entitled as aforesaid jointly.

(6) This paragraph does not apply where an infant would, if of full age, constitute the tenant for life or have the powers of a tenant for life together with another person of full age, but it applies to two or more infants who would, if all of them were of full age, together constitute the tenant for life or have the powers of a tenant for life.

Marginal Citations

M1 1925 c. 19.

M2 1882 c. 38.

M3 1925 c. 20.