Trustees’ powers: Beyond the deed

Mary Ashley explores a recent case considering the options by which trustees can extend their powers ‘In circumstances where trustees want to act outside of the powers which they expressly have, they will want to analyse closely what it is that they are seeking to do and therefore, the best way to do it – …
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South Downs Trustees Ltd v GH [2018] WTLR 673

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Summer 2018 #172

The claimant was the trustee of an employment benefit trust (the EBT). The trustee had an interest in a company that owned and controlled a business (the utility). The beneficiaries of the EBT were the former and current employees of the utility and other group companies and their dependants. The trustee entered into a sale and purchase agreement for the sale of the EBT’s interest in the company, conditional upon certain relief from the court. Following the sale, there would be a distribution of the trust property amongst various beneficiaries.

Held

The fol...

Trustees’ Powers: Expanding the scope

Re Portman Estate [2015] provides useful pointers on modernising a trust. Georgia Bedworth reports ‘Where powers are more restrictive than might be found in a modern settlement, s57 Trustee Act 1925 is a means by which trustees can update their administrative powers to allow adaptation to modern circumstances.’ Most settlements are designed to be long-term …
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Re The Portman Estate [2015] EWHC 536 (Ch)

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | June 2015 #150

This claim comprised various applications relating to the trusts of the Portman Estate, which own significant real property in London and elsewhere. There are several separate settlements, whose property is held in various funds. The claim was brought by the trustees, without naming any defendants. However, two key beneficiaries consented to the proposed application in writing.

The trustees sought orders under s57 Trustee Act 1925 conferring various powers on the trustees of various different trusts of the estate. None of the powers sought affected the beneficial interest...

Commercial Trusts: Pragmatism prevails

Giles Richardson looks at the current approach of the English courts to trusts arising in commercial contexts ‘The practical effect of a Re Benjamin order in commercial trust contexts will often be practically to extinguish all claims that tardy beneficiaries have.’ This article considers the High Court decisions in Re MF Global [2013] and Re …
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Re English & American Insurance Co Ltd; Re the Trustee Act 1925 HC13C02801

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | January/February 2014 #136

This was an application by the trustees of a trust arrangement forming part of Schemes of Arrangement following the insolvency of English & American Insurance Company Ltd (EAIC). The trustees were unable to make distributions to the vast majority of beneficiaries under the trust owing to the existence of a small subset of beneficiaries who potentially had rights under the fund. Accordingly the trustees made an application under s57 of the Trustee Act 1925 for power to apportion the trust fund or alternatively for power to make interim distributions either under the court’s...

Section 57 Trustee Act 1925: The extent of expediency

Sukhninder Panesar considers whether s57 of the Trustee Act 1925 extends beyond variation of the management functions of a trust ‘The courts can use s57 of the Trustee Act 1925 to apportion trust funds or otherwise bring forward the timing of the distribution of trust funds provided that it is expedient to do so and …
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Trusts: Section 57 clarified

Shân Warnock-Smith QC examines the partitioning of ‘Freeston’ trusts in the recent case of Southgate v Sutton ‘The US beneficiaries and the trustees were put in a difficult position as a result of the decision at first instance: the beneficiaries because of their continued exposure to penal US tax and the trustees because they could …
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