Clement v Lucas concerns a family farming enterprise and illustrates the difficulties when beneficiaries cannot agree on how to give effect to the protections parents have put in place for the benefit of the beneficiaries. The contest at the heart of the matter was whether the trustees should distribute the trust assets equally between the … Continue reading
Para 438 in the decision of MezhProm Bank v Pugachev refers to a phenomenon in patent law known as the Angora cat problem first identified by Professor Franzosi, an eminent academic expert in the field: “Professor Mario Franzosi likens a patentee to an Angora cat. When validity is challenged, the patentee says his patent is … Continue reading
As noted by Woolford J in para [1] Addleman v Lambie Trustee Limited relates to “an unfortunate dispute between sisters as to what level of disclosure is appropriate for the affairs of the Lambie Trust (the Trust)…” Prudence and Annette are sisters. In1972 Annette broke her spinal cord diving into a tidal pool in Sydney … Continue reading
The Supreme Court decision in Clayton v Clayton changed the trust landscape. But how afraid should we be? Are all trusts vulnerable to Clayton-style challenge? Or just the ones that push the envelope? And, if the latter, how far can one push before there is a problem? A recent decision of Moore J has provided … Continue reading
The decision in Judd v Hawkes Bay Trustee Company Limited (see Another tributary in the trickle of constructive trust cases) has been upheld on appeal. By way of background Richard Hodgkinson and Michelle Judd were married for six and a half years. Over that period they lived in a property in Lane Road, Havelock North, … Continue reading
In Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part I when Prince Hal finds the cowardly Falstaff pretending to be dead on the battlefield, the prince assumes he has been killed. After the prince leaves the stage, Falstaff rationalizes “The better part of Valour, is Discretion; in the which better part, I haue saued my life” (spelling and punctuation … Continue reading
The terms minute and resolution are often used interchangeably and it is common for a trustee resolution to be only treated as final once signed – but is this correct? What is a resolution? A record of a decision or is the resolution the decision? I have previously considered whether a resolution requires that there be … Continue reading
I talk a lot about all the things that go horridly wrong for trustees and all the mistakes they make and how they can do better, try harder. But the difficulty for many trustees is that even if they know they are not doing a great job, they don’t actually know how to pick up … Continue reading
Powers of attorney and deeds of delegation can be useful, especially where a trustee may be absent from New Zealand for periods of time. However, the extent to which trustees can rely on decisions made where one trustee has acted in a personal capacity and under a power of attorney require consideration. Consider the facts in … Continue reading
Trusts are a bit like plants – tend them and nourish them and you can reap the rewards for years. Leave them alone and even if once well tended to, the plant can bolt or fail. The story that became Murrell v Hamilton provides a sad example of what can happen when trustees fail to collectively … Continue reading
