Although the trust, as such, is not a legal concept in Dutch law and is difficult to fit into the current Dutch legal framework, there are certain Dutch legal concepts that share characteristics of a trust or that share the functionality of the trust. In this contribution, the subject matter of trusts in Dutch law is approached both from the perspective of trust characteristics as well as from the perspective of the function- ality of the trust as a concept. This research is not only of interest for academic purposes, but also in the context of potential future legislation introducing the trust into Dutch law. We conclude that there is no fundamental objection against the introduction of the trust or new trust-like concepts in Dutch law. The introduction of a trust as a general concept would, however, require a substantial change of law.