Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

Totten trust

A revocable trust created by one's deposit of money in one's own name as a trustee for another. ( A Totten trust is commonly used to indicate a successor to the account without having to create a will. -Also termed tentative trust; bank-account trust; savings-account trust; savings-bank trust. "A deposit by one person of his own money, in his own name as trustee for another, standing alone, does not establish an irrevocable trust during the lifetime of the depositor. It is a tentative trust merely, revocable at will, until the depositor dies or completes the gift in his lifetime by some unequivocal act or declaration, such as delivery of the pass book or notice to the beneficiary. In case the depositor dies before the beneficiary without revocation, or some decisive act or declaration of disaffirmance, the presumption arises that an absolute trust was created as to the balance on hand at the death of the depositor." In re Totten, 179 N.Y. 112, 125-26 (1904) (Vann, J.).