13 - Trusts and UWOs

Summary

Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWOs) are investigative tools brought in by the Criminal Finances Act 2017, which give new powers to the UK law enforcement authorities to fight money laundering. UWOs apply to individuals and other structures, e.g., trusts and companies, and require a respondent to explain the nature and extent of his interest in particular assets and how the assets were obtained. These orders further apply to assets located within and outside of the United Kingdom. This chapter examines the addition of UWOs to the arsenal of anti-money laundering measures in the United Kingdom. Compliance with a UWO will make further inroads on the privacy of trusts since information will have to be disclosed about the origin of the funds used to obtain specific trust assets. In addition, the Criminal Finances Act 2017 adopts a wide definition of persons taken to ‘hold’ trust property. This includes a ‘beneficiary, whether actual or potential’. Given the absence of any guidance provided by the 2017 Act, the chapter seeks to interrogate the meaning of ‘hold’ and determine when a discretionary beneficiary ought to be treated as ‘holding’ trust assets for the purposes of UWOs.