Such Trusts are void in England and Guernsey. To be valid, they must have an Enforcer. Trusts of unlimited duration whose beneficiaries can have no enforceable rights against trustees, enforcers or Trust property. In the Crown Dependencies, as in the UK, such Trusts would be ineffective. The beneficiaries, having no rights, would be regarded only as objects of a power, and the trustees would be regarded as holding the Trust property for the settlor.
Trusts are an important element in the Islands' international finance centres.
A significant proportion of the total business involves the use of Trusts in one form or another. The Trust and company vehicles taken together enable them to offer a range of facilities not generally available outside the Anglo-Saxon jurisdictions. Hence the number of Trusts and the value of assets held in them are unknown. The Jersey authorities believe, however, that Jersey Trusts probably hold assets in excess of 100 billion. The Guernsey authorities believe that the corresponding figure for Guernsey may be 20 billion.