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In the United Kingdom, five main types of trust have developed:

- *Interest in possession trust.* Interest in possession trusts (sometimes called "life interest trusts") are often created as part of wills and are structured in such a way that the surviving spouse, or "life tenant", will have a right to receive an income for the rest of his or her life, or for a fixed period at least.

- *Accumulation and Maintenance trust.* "A&M" trusts arose in the 1970s because of changes to UK tax law. They exist for young beneficiaries and give the trustees discretion to pay money for their benefit. Until recently they have enjoyed special tax treatment, but the Finance Act 2006 changed this.

- *Discretionary trust.* Trustees of a discretionary trust can often choose the beneficiaries, based on a "class" specified by the settlor. Alternatively, they may have a fixed group of beneficiaries to choose from, but they can decide which beneficiaries (if any) are to benefit and to what extent, so long as the decision is based on the beneficiaries' best interests.

- *Bare trust.* Where there is a bare trust, the trustees can deal with the property as usual but the beneficiaries have an absolute right to demand any or all of the property at any time. The trustees are therefore mere agents of the beneficiaries. In the USA the term *simple trust*is used (see below).

- *Charitable trust.* Charitable trusts have a unique position in English law. They have special tax advantages, they do not have to end after a certain period of time (unlike other types of trusts), they will not be void if their objects are uncertain. They encourage charitable giving.