The law presumes that legal ownership and beneficial ownership are the same thing unless something happens to split the ownership. This can occur in three ways: Express trust The most common way to create a beneficial interest is through an express trust. This is where the legal owner signs a trust deed or written agreement declaring that the legal owner holds the property ‘on trust’ for someone else, the beneficial owner. For example, a mother could declare that she holds the property on trust for her son, or a cohabiting couple could declare that they hold the property on trust for themselves in 70/30 percent shares to reflect their individual contributions toward the purchase price, rather than holding the property equally. Resulting trust Sometimes, the law will presume that a beneficial interest has been created if there has been a financial contribution. For example, if Person A pays part of the purchase price for a property that is registered in Person B’s name, the law will impose a ‘resulting trust’ where B holds the property on trust for the benefit of A relative to A’s contribution. Constructive trust A constructive trust arises when there is a common intention that someone has a beneficial interest in the property, even if they did not contribute to the purchase price. For example, if Person A moves in with Person B and pays the mortgage, or pays for a new kitchen, the court may decide that they behaved this way because there was a common intention to share the property. After all, it would be very unusual to pay someone else’s mortgage for no financial gain.