Beneficiary

Beneficiary is a legal term used in both England and Scotland to denote a person who is in the enjoyment, or is ultimately entitled to the enjoyment, of any interest or estate held in trust by others. The technical term in the law of England is Cestui que trust (q.v.). Thus, annuitants, special legatees, and residuary legatees are all beneficiaries. In charitable trusts of a discretionary character there is often doubt as to who the beneficiaries really are, and both under statute and at common law the courts or the commissioners are occasionally asked to reform a charity, which often means changing the class of beneficiaries. Beneficiaries are entitled to protect the trust estate by interdict and injunction against improper acts of the trustees, and also to sue the trustees for an accounting. See TRUST.