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Trustee liability

This category contains 144 posts

Trustee fees

In the matter of the Estate of Hyman Marks the High Court was asked to approve a trustee fee of $5,000 per annum. By way of background as noted at [4]: “The trust fund was established under the Will of the late Hyman Marks, who died on 22 May 1895. Since then, various trustees have … Continue reading

Final beneficiary – or post script?

It is common for appointment as a final beneficiary to be considered a higher ranking appointment than a disretionary beneficiary. However, what does it really mean to be a final beneficiary? Fundamentally, this might often be no more than the right to receive all or part of the remaining trust assets (if any) when the … Continue reading

Qualitative vs Quantitative

V Trustees Limited (the Trustee) was concerned to protect the position of C who was the beneficiary of a trust much diminished due to the actions of her litigious brother, A, whose conduct had caused substantial losses with “no signs of the attacks abating.” The matter came before the Jersey Royal Court on an application … Continue reading

Receiver appointed to a trust with no trustee

Booth and Magniness v Rahal relates to a successful application for the appointment of a receiver to the First Trust (the Trust). The Trust’s original trustee was First Trust Limited (the Company). The background is set out by Gault J at [3] to [9] as follows: [3] On 28 April 2017, the Company was incorporated. … Continue reading

Fiduciary obligations owed to trustees?

In Naaman v Jaken Properties Australia Pty Limited, the High Court of Australia considers “whether a successor trustee owes a fiduciary obligation to a former trustee in respect of the former trustee’s entitlement to indemnification out of trust assets or the commensurate beneficial interest in the trust assets that the former trustee retains following replacement … Continue reading

Fiduciary restraints

This appeal to the Supreme Court addresses what rights or powers s in a family trust can properly be treated as “property” rights or interests falling within the ambit of the Property (Relationships) Act 1976 (the PRA). For the background see Weakly Fiduciary. The appeal was denied, the reasons for which are summarised at [125] … Continue reading

Primary purpose of visit

Trustees are commonly also beneficiaries of family trusts.  However, where sibling rivalry or other family disputes compromise the proper administration of a trust, Court assistance can be necessary to determine whether trustees have been properly removed, or whether some or all of the trustees should be removed. In Lim v Lim-Yip the Court was required … Continue reading

Is or is not

The question posed by the court in An application by Hoglie Trustees Limited as trustee of the Larry Robertson Family Trust was whether the Larry Robertson Family Trust (the Trust) was void from inception due to lack of certainty as to the Trust’s objects. Relevantly section 15 of the Trusts Act 2019 provide that: As … Continue reading

Spirit of will not binding on trustees

Sherwin v JKA Holdings Limited & Ors relates to the Douglas Hilton Family Trust (the Trust), which was settled in 1985 by Dr Douglas Sherwin’s mother on terms that infer that Dr Sherwin, who was the source of the trust’s economic wealth, was the true settlor. This is addressed by Becroft J at [15] as … Continue reading

When the words get in the way

Sometimes it can be convenient to lose sight of the obligations of a trustee due to the manner in which the trustee relationship is referred to or recorded. See Kirkpatrick v Burns[1] where the Court, having reviewed the obligations of bare trustees, said at [62] “Although consideration of whether the trustees are “bare trustees” may … Continue reading

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