Cap. 331 Art. 11Failure of a trust.

(1) A trust shall fail -

(a) if it requires, purports or encourages the doing of any act which is a criminal offence under the laws of Malta or would be such offence if done in Malta;

(b) if it has income accruing to, or derived by it, which originates from an operation, transaction or other activity which is a criminal offence under the laws of Malta or which, if carried out in Malta, would be such an offence, or comprises property the receipt, ownership or control of which is or would be such an offence as aforesaid.

(2) Trusts shall fail if any court declares that their purpose or the terms of trust are not possible, or illegal, immoral or contrary to public policy, or otherwise tainted by error, fraud or violence, or any other reason which invalidates legal acts according to the laws of Malta.

(3) The Court may declare the failure of all or of only one or more purposes or terms of the trust and shall have the power to direct that the purposes or terms which can be properly separated from the failed purposes or terms continue to be valid and enforceable subject to any directive it may give.

(4) Where the trustee of a trust is of the opinion that the trust is or may be wholly or in part invalid he shall seek directives from the court as to the validity or otherwise of the trust and as to any matter concerning the property subject to that trust and his obligations in relation thereto.

(5) Directives as provided in subarticle (4) may also be requested by the settlor, and by any of the beneficiaries.

(6) Property as to which a trust has wholly or partially failed shall, subject to any order of any court or a direction issued in terms of article 38C, be held by the trustee in trust for the settlor absolutely, or if he is dead, for his heirs.