How does a person know whether a trust exists or not? The answer to that question can at times be more complicated than you’d imagine. There are occasions where a written document, such as a Will, very clearly purports to establish a “trust” but fails to do so. There are other occasions where there is no written document present at all, but nonetheless a trust relationship is deemed at law to have arisen. In some provincial jurisdictions, a trust to hold land cannot be validly created unless there is a written document in place.