Perpetuity period

Statutory modification

• In England and Wales, dispositions of property subject to the rule before 14 July 1964 remain subject to the rule. The Perpetuities and Accumulations Act 1964 provides for the effect of the rule of interests created thereafter. The Perpetuities and Accumulations Act 2009 codified the "wait and see" doctrine developed by courts and made the perpetuity period 125 years.
• In Scotland there are similar provisions under the Trusts (Scotland) Act 1921.
• In the Republic of Ireland, the rule was abolished as of 1 December 2009.
• The states of the United States have differing approaches.
  • Some states follow the "wait-and-see approach", or "second look doctrine" or apply the "cy-près doctrine". Under the wait-and-see approach, the validity of a suspect future interest is determined on the basis of facts as they now exist at the end of the measuring life, and not at the time the interest was created. Under the cy-près doctrine, if the interest does violate the rule against perpetuities, the court may reform the grant in a way that does not violate the rule and reduce any offensive age contingency to 21 years.
  • 29 states or territories have adopted the Uniform Statutory Rule Against Perpetuities (or some variant of it), which extends the waiting period typically to 90 years after creation of the interest.
  • At least six states have repealed the rule in its entirety, and many have extended the vesting period of the wait-and-see approach for an extremely long period of time (in Florida, for example, up to 360 or 1000 years for trusts).