OVERVIEW In 2017, the English High Court decision of Mezhprom v Pugachev caused ripples in the trusts world as to the extent to which a settlor of a trust can reserve powers for the trust to be considered valid. Several commentators dismissed the decision as an anomaly. However, the Privy Council’s 2020 decision in Webb v Webb suggests that courts in common law jurisdictions may be more inclined to strike down a trust as invalid if the settlor’s powers go too far. The cases discussed below illustrate a new line of attack on trusts on the basis that they fall short of the following requirements for a valid trust to be established under the common law: