Arthur Mayala Mambu

Arthur Mayala Mambu is our exclusively recommended Trusts & Estates Law expert in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the Advisory Excellence website. If you need assistance in this area, please contact Arthur directly using the contact details listed above.

When assets are given to a trustee for the benefit of a beneficiary or for a predetermined purpose, a settlor establishes a trust (during their lifetime or after their death).

The following traits describe a trust:

• The assets of the trust are kept in a separate fund and are not included in the trustee’s personal estate.
• The trustee, or someone else acting in the trustee’s place, has the legal title to the trust’s assets.
• The trustee is responsible for managing, using, and disposing of the assets in line with the conditions of the trust and any additional legal obligations placed on him.
• The establishment of a trust is not always incompatible with the settlor’s reserve of certain rights and powers or the trustee’s potential status as a beneficiary.

The main feature of a trust is that it allows for the separation of legal ownership and beneficial interest: the beneficiaries have the right to expect that the trustees will manage the trust property for their advantage while the trustees become the owners of the property in the eyes of third parties.

Either express trusts, which are those that are voluntarily created by the settlor, or statutory trusts are types of trusts.