A Look at Recent Past Papers for the CII J02 Exam – April 2026
In this article, we are taking a look at the questions asked in four past exam papers of the CII’s Diploma in Financial Planning J02 exam – this is the unit that tests trusts.
This article is correct as at 7 April 2026.
In the table below, we show the questions that were asked in the 2024 and 2025 exams showing the split between the marks available for theory questions and those available for calculations.
| Theory: 122 marks | Theory: 125 marks | Theory: 125 marks | Theory: 124 marks |
| Legal definition of a trust. | Legal vs beneficial ownership of a trust. | Non-tax related reasons for creating a trust. | Trust created in a Will. |
| Types of beneficial interest. | Retirement of a trustee. | Trustees charging and expenses. | How trustees are appointed. |
| Delegation of powers under Trustee Act 2000. | Discretionary trusts vs bare trusts. | Joint tenancy vs tenants in common. | Tax benefits of an IPDI. |
| Benefits of life policies under trust. | Perpetuity and accumulation periods. | Non-statutory and statutory trusts. | Knight vs Knight. |
| Will trusts and TRS. | Immediate post death interest trust (IPDI). | Taxation of bare trusts. | Express trusts. |
| IHT treatment of IIP trusts. | Charitable trusts vs private trusts. | MWPA. | Variation of trusts. |
| Income Tax treatment of income in an IIP trust. | Lasting Powers of Attorney. | General powers of investment. | Main duties of an attorney under an LPA. |
| Factors to consider when investing cash in a bare trust. | Laws of intestacy. | When a settlor may pay CGT and how a trust is determined for tax purposes. | Disclaimers and deeds of variation. |
| CGT implications of transferring OEICs into a discretionary trust. | Deed of variation. | Court of Protection. | Challenging a Will. |
| Enduring Powers of Attorney. | Impact on a trust of the bankruptcy of a trustee and a beneficiary. | Implications of divorce on a Will. | Bankruptcy and whole of life policies. |
| Mutual Wills. | Personal Representatives and the payment of Income Tax. | Duties of an executor. Income Tax in a discretionary trust. | Exit charges on discretionary trusts. |
| 18 to 24 trusts. | Personal Representatives responsibility for payment of Income Tax. | Taxation of a bond under trust. | Defined benefit schemes and trusts. |
| Loan Trust Schemes. | Share purchase arrangements. | Rysaffe ruling. Factors which may cause investments to be reviewed. | Discounted gift trusts – benefits and drawbacks. |
| Removing a trustee due to mental incapacity. | Flexible reversionary trusts. | How a bare trust can be brought to an end. | |
| Review of a trust/ disputes between trustees and beneficiaries. | |||
| Calculation: 8 marks | Calculation: 5 marks | Calculation: 5 marks | Calculation: 6 marks |
As you can see there are some common themes running through each paper – namely the main trusts which are bare, discretionary, and interest in possession. Candidates need to know what each of these is (e.g., bare trust is absolute, discretionary has no beneficiary with an entitlement to anything whereas an interest in possession has a life tenant entitled to income with remaindermen entitled to residual capital). Also make sure the taxation of each is completely clear (that’s income tax, capital gains tax, and inheritance tax).
Powers of attorney appear regularly as does trust law and Will planning with some questions being repeated over these sessions.
Calculations don’t take up too much space, but there is one in each of these four exams with a similar amount of marks allocated to each.
The common areas repeated over sessions reminds us of how important it is to use past exam guides to help understand how topics are tested and the model answers that pick up the marks.
The J02 manual may be a tough read in places, but it is one of the slimmer text study texts, so each of the learning outcomes can be broken down into manageable chunks when devising a revision plan.
Grab the resources you need!
Many candidates struggle to translate their knowledge of trusts into exam-ready answers. Download your free J02 taster to see how our mock papers can help.
