Section 13Part 1 — Trusts Act
Presumption of immediate effect
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In construing the terms of any instrument stipulating the trusts and powers in and over the property, if the instrument is not expressed to be a will, testament or codicil and is not expressed to take effect only upon the death of the settlor, it shall be presumed that all such trusts (and in particular the duty of the trustees to the beneficiaries to administer the trust in accordance with its terms) and powers were intended by the settlor to take immediate effect upon the property being identified and vested in the trustee, save as otherwise expressly, or by necessary implication, provided in the instrument.
Subsection (1) shall apply notwithstanding —
that the trust may have been created in order to avoid the application upon the settlor ’ s death of laws relating to wills, probate or succession;
that during the lifetime of the settlor, beneficiaries of the trust may not be ascertainable;
that beneficial interests may only vest in remainder or may remain contingent or subject to defeasance by the exercise of reserved powers or otherwise; or
that the settlor may be one of the trustees.
Subsection (1) does not apply in the case of a declaration by a person constituting themselves the sole trustee of a property to which that person was beneficially entitled.