Musings from Manchester: Putting trust professionals in the role of policing the anti-money laundering industry is unhelpful and onerous

Does the Trust Registration Service achieve its anti-money laundering goals, or is it just another expensive layer of bureaucracy for clients, asks Geoffrey Shindler My concern is that what is being heaped upon professionals is yet another level of compliance and bureaucracy; and I have grave doubts as to whether the information that is demanded …
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Quistclose trusts: A high threshold of facts

Recent case law has confirmed that Quistclose trusts do not override commercial practice. Professor Sukhninder Panesar explains The mere fact that the monies were advanced for a specific purpose was not in itself sufficient for the finding of a Quistclose trust; there had to be more in the sense that the monies were only to …
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Alternative dispute resolution: Seeking consensus

Dawn Goodman explores how mediation can work well in trust and estates disputes Ironically, some of the qualities of trust and succession disputes that make them so difficult to settle may make mediation among the most successful ways of achieving a consensual outcome. Trust and estate disputes can be among the most unpleasant and difficult …
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Jurisdiction: After Brexit

Simon Adamyk and Jessica Powers examine the current judicial approach to jurisdictional challenges on forum non conveniens grounds Post-Brexit, jurisdictional issues are determined, for the most part, in accordance with common law principles. Al Assam v Tsouvelekakis [2022] was concerned with the funds of two Cypriot trusts, the AAA Family Trust and the Hamza Family …
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Wills: High Court rules against multimillionaire’s 2014 will

Documentary records were critical in establishing lack of knowledge and consent in a high-value judgment over an illiterate settlor’s will. Kevin Modiri discusses One would expect that if after just two years, a testator made a significant change to their will that cut out three residuary beneficiaries who together stood to inherit over £46m, a …
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Trusts: Doing away with the need for detrimental reliance

Guy Holland analyses whether a cohabitee’s beneficial interest can be varied by express agreement alone In finding that detrimental reliance was not the only route to establishing unconscionability, Kerr J has identified a clear distinction between the approach to be adopted in single name and joint name cases. It is well established that detrimental reliance …
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Practice spotlight: Can you trust your instincts?

Sheila Rusike and Jo Summers outline some interesting trust practice points gleaned from their recent experience for the benefit of other practitioners It is worth checking exactly how the trustees’ names appear on the Land Registry records to make sure any deeds you create (such as a deed of retirement and appointment) match. Trust and …
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Trustees: Call of duty?

James Sheedy reviews what the trustee needs to know about impact investing A possible solution in answer to the desire of beneficiaries to ‘do good’ with trust funds is for trustees to appoint assets out to beneficiaries for them to then apply them as they deem appropriate. In the last few years, there has been …
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