Victorian will - 500 years

[Vimeira]

Does anyone know about Victorian wills, please? Specifically the 500 years thing. I’m trying to understand a will written in 1874 - the legator has a son (Robert Halstead Hargreaves) but appears to be leaving everything to his own brother Samuel and another trustee for 500 years! I assume this is a legal wheeze to avoid tax or something? Thanks! (The son continued to live on the estate as usual.)

"I give and devise all my freehold and copyhold estates whatsoever and wheresoever (except Estates vested in me upon any trust or by way of mortgage) unto the said Samuel Hargreaves and Thomas Salt their heirs and assigns to the use of the said Samuel Hargreaves and Thomas Salt their executors administrators and assigns for the term of 500 years and after the expiration thereof and in the meantime subject thereto and to the trusts thereof to the use of my said son Robert Halstead Hargreaves his heirs and assigns for ever"

[Skoosh]

Leasehold!

Skoosh.

[Vimeira]

Thanks Skoosh! Never thought of that!

[jim1]

I'm not sure a lease would last 500 years.
The way I'm reading it is that the freehold estate is to be passed
to his son for his lifetime & then to his heirs & so on for 500 years.
This prevents the land being sold by any of the heirs.
Very impractical & problematic for the incumbent heir & administrators
& the law was eventually changed in favour of the heir.

[Vimeira]

It’s a very long will (17 pages) with a lot of arrangements for annuities for the widow and other descendants. Although it reads that all the estates go to “to the use of” the trustees for 500 years, I suppose the clue is that the son and heir (and his heirs) can use them “in the meantime” subject to conditions. (I now know that the uncle trustee did in fact leave most of his estate to this same son and heir.)

[jim1]

Initially the whole estate was handed over to the Trustees to be disposed of
as will dictated, this included the annuities.
There was usually a condition where the Trustees could re-invest if the annuities
yielded a better return elsewhere.
Sounds like son & heir ended up very wealthy.

[Vimeira]

Thanks - yes, I need to look into that.