A trust can be defined as an equitable obligation, which binds a trustee with a fiduciary duty to deal with the trust fund, over which he has control, for the benefit of the beneficiaries of the trust.

A trust is formed when a settlor transfers the legal interest in an asset to a trustee for that trustee to hold for the benefit of a beneficiary or a class of beneficiaries, upon specific trust terms. These terms are set out in the trust deed.

The management of each trust will depend on the nature of the assets which have been settled into the trust fund. These could be cash, or shares, or real property, or any other type of asset capable of being transferred. Often, companies are used to hold some of these different asset classes separately.