A resulting trust is a remedy when a trust fails, i.e., when there are no surviving beneficiaries or when the trust instrument does not dispose of the trust property on its termination. The remedy attempts to carry out the settlor’s intent in those narrow situations. If the intent cannot be determined, the remedy can result in a reversion of trust property to the settlor or the settlor’s estate. However, if the court can determine what the settlor ‘would have wanted, had the trust not failed’ then, as with the Kalbach Trust, the court will attempt to effectuate the settlor’s presumed intent without imposing a resulting trust.
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