Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Summer 2022 #187W was the founder of WBL, an internationally renowned publisher of children’s books. In 1989 W instructed solicitors to create an employee trust (WBET) for WBL and transferred 51% of the WBL shares into WBET. The remainder of the shares were divided amongst family trusts established by W.
W died in 1991 and the shares in WBL held by the family trusts were distributed to employees and officers of WBL through a qualifying employee share ownership trust and a share incentive plan. Some of those shares were acquired from employees by the WBL Employee Share Ownership Plan (ESOP).
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William Moffett examines when trust information should be disclosed to beneficiaries and the importance of holding trustees to account ‘Beneficiaries with fixed interests, as distinct from discretionary beneficiaries, can reasonably expect disclosure to be made to them by trustees, or to receive the assistance of the court in obtaining disclosure if it is refused to …
Continue reading "Disclosure: Considering entitlement"
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Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Spring 2018 #171The appellants were beneficiaries of a number of Bahamian trusts; the respondent solicitors (‘TW’) act on behalf of the trustee of these trusts. On 4 August 2014, the appellants served a subject access request (‘SAR’) on TW, requesting disclosure of the personal data relating to the appellants held by TW as the solicitors for the trustee. The appellants were not satisfied by TW’s response to the SAR. They therefore applied to the court to exercise its discretion under s.7(9) of the Data Protection Act 1998 (‘DPA’), and grant a declaration that TW had not complied with t...
Gillian Coumbe QC discusses a recent case where the New Zealand Supreme Court considered the principles governing disclosure of trust information to beneficiaries ‘There is no absolute right to any trust document. However, where the request is made by a close beneficiary for access to core documents such as the trust deed and accounts there …
Continue reading "International Trust Law: Disclose or withhold?"
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James Lister evaluates whether the Court of Appeal has established a new approach to disclosure and data protection ‘While in principle there are some potentially alarming consequences of this decision (Dawson-Damer & ors v Taylor Wessing LLP & ors [2016]) for trustees and their advisers in particular, it must be borne in mind that the …
Continue reading "Disclosure: A new dawn?"
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Can beneficiaries demand the disclosure of trust accounts? Mathew Roper explains ‘It now appears to be settled in English law that the court should approach a request by a beneficiary for disclosure of trust documents as one calling for the exercise of a discretion rather than an adjudication upon a proprietary right.’ The right of …
Continue reading "Accounting Rights: Classified information"
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Wills & Trusts Law Reports | November 2016 #164The Acorn Foundation trust and the Independent Group trust (‘trusts’) were established by the late Michael Erceg (‘settlor’) in the early 2000’s. The appellant, who was a brother of the Settlor, was included within the classes of both discretionary and ultimate beneficiaries of each of the trusts. He was adjudicated bankrupt on 2 February 2010 and his estate vested in the Official Assignee under the Insolvency Act 2006. He was not discharged from bankruptcy until 12 May 2014 by which time the trusts had been wound up without any distribution being made to the appellant. Having u...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | May 2016 #159The claimant was a member of a class of objects of a discretionary trust created by the will of Valerie Mary Lee who died on 19 June 2013. The defendants, who were partners in Tanners Solicitors LLP, were the trustees (including the sole proving executor). The relationship between the claimant and her elder sister (who had been added to the class of potential beneficiaries after the death of their mother) was affected by a history of strains between members of the family. The first defendant proved the will on 28 January 2014 in relation to an estate valued at £903,574. The second defend...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | March 2016 #157Taylor Wessing LLP (TW) are the London solicitors of Grampian Trust Company Limited (the trustee), a company resident and incorporated in the Bahamas. The trustee is trustee of a discretionary settlement known as the Glenfinnan settlement, settled in 1992 and governed by Bahamian law. The Glenfinnan settlement was a resettlement of certain funds from an earlier Bahamian settlement (the 1973 settlement). The first claimant is a beneficiary of the Glenfinnan settlement. The second and third claimants, her children, are not beneficiaries. In 2006 and 2009 the trustee made substantial appoin...
