A beneficial interest is "that right which a person has in a contract made with another" (third) person. The typical example is "if A makes a contract with B that he will pay C a certain sum of money, B has the legal interest in the contract, and C the beneficial interest."

More generally, a beneficial interest is any "interest of value, worth, or use

Use (law)

Use, as a term in real property law of common law countries, amounts to a recognition of the duty of a person, to whom property has been conveyed for certain purposes, to carry out those purposes....

 in property

Property

Property is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of people or a legal entity like a corporation...

 one does not own," for example, "the interest that a beneficiary

Beneficiary

A beneficiary in the broadest sense is a natural person or other legal entity who receives money or other benefits from a benefactor. For example: The beneficiary of a life insurance policy, is the person who receives the payment of the amount of insurance after the death of the insured...

 of a trust has in the trust." More specifically, it could be:

• "A property interest that inures solely to the benefit of the owner," or
• Property that "remains of an estate
  Estate (law)
  An estate is the net worth of a person at any point in time. It is the sum of a person's assets - legal rights, interests and entitlements to property of any kind - less all liabilities at that time. The issue is of special legal significance on a question of bankruptcy and death of the person...
  
   after the payment of debts and the expenses of administration", or
• The right of a person having a power of appointment
  Power of appointment
  A power of appointment is a term most frequently used in the law of wills to describe the ability of the testator to select a person who will be given the authority to dispose of certain property under the will. Although any person can exercise this power at any time during their life, its use is...
  
   to appoint himself."

Black's Law Dictionary defines beneficial interest as "Profit, benefit or advantage resulting from a contract, or the ownership of an estate as distinct from the legal ownership or control." Examples of beneficial interests in mining claims include unrecorded deeds and agreements to share profits, but not mortgages and other liens. A beneficial interest is also "distinguished from the rights of someone like a trustee or official who has responsibility to perform and/or title to the assets but does not share in the benefits."

See also

• Asset protection
  Asset protection
  Asset protection is a set of legal techniques and a body of statutory and common law dealing with protecting assets of individuals and business entities from civil money judgments...
  
  
• Beneficial owner
  Beneficial owner
  Beneficial owner is a legal term where specific property rights in equity belong to a person even though legal title of the property belongs to another person. Black's Law Dictionary...
  
  
• Beneficial use
  Beneficial use
  Beneficial use is a legal term describing a person's right to enjoy the benefits of specific property, especially a view or access to light, air, or water, even though title to that property is held by another person. This may also be termed "beneficial enjoyment". Black's Law Dictionary...
  
  
• Corporate benefit
  Corporate benefit
  The interest of the company is a concept that the board of directors in corporations are in most legal systems required to use their powers for the commercial benefit of the company and its members...
  
  
• Lien
  Lien
  In law, a lien is a form of security interest granted over an item of property to secure the payment of a debt or performance of some other obligation...
  
  
• Purpose trust
  Purpose Trust
  A purpose trust is a type of trust which has no beneficiaries, but instead exists for advancing some non-charitable purpose of some kind. In most jurisdictions, such trusts are not enforceable outside of certain limited and anomalous exceptions, but some countries have enacted legislation...
  
  
• Quistclose trust
  Quistclose trust
  Barclays Bank Ltd v Quistclose Investments Ltd [1970] AC 567 is a leading property, unjust enrichment and trusts case, which invented a new species of proprietary interest...
  
  
• Resulting trust
  Resulting trust
  A resulting trust is the creation of an implied trust by operation of law, as where property gets transferred to one who pays nothing for it; and then is implied to have held the property for benefit of another person. The trust property is said to "result" back to the transferor...
  
  
• Use (law)
  Use (law)
  Use, as a term in real property law of common law countries, amounts to a recognition of the duty of a person, to whom property has been conveyed for certain purposes, to carry out those purposes....
  
  
• Trust (law)