Saunders V Vautier Where The Beneficial Class Is Not Closed - The Debate Goes On...

The rule in Saunders v Vautier is familiar territory for trust lawyers.  In the modern world it is understood to mean that the beneficiaries of a trust, if all of full age and capacity, may together terminate the trust and require the trust property to be transferred to them.  As the authors of Lewin on Trusts note, 'the principle of Saunders v Vautier is not a rule of construction but depends on the fundamental proposition that the beneficiaries are collectively the beneficial proprietors of the fund'.

It is settled law nowadays that this principle also extends to discretionary trusts, at least where the beneficial class is closed.  The question of whether the principle can operate where the beneficial class is not closed (for example where the terms of the trust include a power to add or remove beneficiaries) remains a good deal more vexed.