What Is Cestui Que Vie?

"Cestui que vie" is a French term that in English translates to "he who lives". It means that the duration of a gift, trust, estate, or insurance contract lasts as long as a particular person (such as the giver of the gift or beneficiary of an estate) lives.

Understanding Cestui Que Vie

"Cestui que vie" is a legal term that can also be used for an individual who is the beneficiary of a trust or an insurance policy, with rights to property, and the꧒ income and profits that the property prov🧸ides.

For instance, the term 🌞is used in health insurance policies, where cestui que vie is an individual whose life represents the duration of the insurance contract.

In these contracts, cestui que vie is known as the policyholder, insured, or🍰 policy owner. Thus, while the term can indicate the beneficiary of a trust or estate, in these cases it refers to the insured and not the beneficiary of an insurance policy.

Cestui Que Trust

A cestui que trust (without "vie") refers to a person entitled to an equitable share in a trust's assets, while the legal ownership of the trust rests with someone else (i.e., the trustee).

History of Cestui Que Vie

Cestui que vie as a legal concept dates to the medieval♈ period, specifically in England.

During this age, the owners of farms and other properties could be absent for extended periods of time as they traveled, whether f🅷or business or religious purposes.

It became important to ensure that familꦛy members, business partners, or tenan♍ts could use the property without fear of it being expropriated by feudal lords.

While the individual was away, a trustee took care of the land but did not retain legal ownership over the 🃏property. The trust often relied on a good faith understanding betweܫen the pertinent parties.

In practice, it was often a way to avoid paying taxes by granting land and property to the Church (which was exempt from taxation) while still allowing descendants to reside in and enjoy the estates during their lifetimes.𒊎

Henry VIII, with his advisers Thomas Cromwell and Thomas More, attempted to invalidate cestui que vie, a🌌n effort that continued during the English Reformation.

Later, however, after the Great Plague of 1665 and the Great Fire of 1666 destroyed London, the British government enacted the Cestui Que Vie Act in 1666. This reinstated the legal concept. Due to those twin catastrophes, hundreds of thousands of British citizens had died or fled the area.

In response, the government took all private property into the trust until the living, proper heirs or owners could be identified—the cestui que vie. Some parts of the 1666 Act are still the law in the United Kingdom.

Cestui Que Vie Is Part of Modern Law

Over the centuries, the legal concepts behind cestui que vie changed a bit to address fraud and to ensure that property owners couldn’t shift their property into trusts to dodge 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:creditors.

More recently, laws against property held in perpetuity required that parties named as the beneficiaries in a trust should vest, and thus have an interest in the trust rather than passively receive bene🐠fits.

Often when a trust is created, it is done for the benefit of a specific individual who is identified in the trus🎃t document.

The cestui que trust is the person who has an equitable interest in the trust. The legal title of the trust, however, is ๊given to the trustee.

Cestui Que Use

Cestui qui use, or he who uses, is the person for whose benefit the trust is made. "Beneficiary" has replaced this archaic term in usage.

During the medieval per♐iod, cestui que use arrangements became so common that they were often assumed to be present even when they had not been arranged.

The Bottom Line

Cestui que vie is a centuries-old term, still in use today with sometimes altered meanings, that translates to "he who lives."

It's used to refer to people who own or benefit from property, including trusts, estates, and insurance contracts.

The arrangement endures for the duration of the cestui que vie individual's life.