An honorary trust, under the law of trusts, is a device by which a person establishes a trust for which there is neither a charitable purpose, nor a private beneficiary to enforce the trust. While such a trust would normally be void for lack of a beneficiary, many jurisdictions have carved out two specific exceptions to this rule: trusts for the care of that person's pets; and trusts to provide for the maintenance of cemetery plots.
Generally, rules require these elements or factors: "they cannot exist beyond the period of the rule against perpetuities, and their amounts cannot be unreasonably large for the purpose to be accomplished .. [and the] purpose must also be that of a reasonably normal testator and cannot be capricious." and New York has only recently allowed such trusts by statute.
See also
- Purpose trust