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Beneficial ownership: Difference between revisions
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{{ | {{a|trust|}}Under {{tag|English law}} there is a distinction between [[legal ownership]] and [[beneficial ownership]]. The legal owner is the person in whose name [[Title transfer|title]] to the asset is formally registered. The beneficial owner is the person (and in most cases, it’s the same person) who has the effective benefit of the asset: not just its economic risks and rewards, but the effective right to deal with it absolutely. | ||
This might seem an artificial, somewhat fatuous distinction — certainly, continental lawyers think so: there’s no concept of that separation at all in the [[civil law]] tradition<ref>But just try asking them to explain therefore what the hell they think a [[fiduciary]] is.</ref> — but it is this very distinction on which the idea of a {{t|trust}} is founded. The [[Trustee]] legally owns the trust property, but it does not form part of the trustee’s [[insolvency estate]]. | This might seem an artificial, somewhat fatuous distinction — certainly, continental lawyers think so: there’s no concept of that separation at all in the [[civil law]] tradition<ref>But just try asking them to explain therefore what the hell they think a [[fiduciary]] is.</ref> — but it is this very distinction on which the idea of a {{t|trust}} is founded. The [[Trustee]] legally owns the trust property, but it does not form part of the trustee’s [[insolvency estate]]. | ||
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[[Trust]]s are excellent things if you are a finance lawyer, and get you out of all kinds of jams. | [[Trust]]s are excellent things if you are a finance lawyer, and get you out of all kinds of jams. | ||
===Not the same thing as the [[corporate veil]]=== | |||
The separation of ownership into legal and beneficial ownership is a “[[creature of equity]]”. One should not confuse it with those creatures of statute, the [[corporation]]: A [[shareholder]] is ''not'' the “[[Beneficial ownership|beneficial]]”, or legal, owner of a [[corporation]]’s assets. | |||
{{sa}} | {{sa}} | ||
*[[Constructive trust]] | *[[Constructive trust]] | ||
*[[Custody]] | *[[Custody]] | ||
{{ref}} | {{ref}} | ||