Trust & estates disputes

Expertise

Track Record

• Advising a life tenant of a large trust, administered by a non-UK resident professional trustee, in connection with proceedings instituted in England by another beneficiary. The claims included allegations of breach of trust for failure to balance the interests of the life tenant and the remaindermen, failure to collect in assets belonging to the trust and trustee overcharging. These proceedings were the latest in a long line of litigation in other jurisdictions and they involved, amongst other things, consideration of complex issues of private international law and abuse of process.
• Acting for Finance Director and Non-Executive Director of a PLC in relation to disciplinary proceedings brought against them by the AADB (the accountancy profession's regulator)
• Advising the trustees of a Jersey settlement in relation to the disclosure of information relating to the trust in the context of ancillary relief proceedings in the English Courts.
• Advising two of the adult beneficiaries of a substantial Will trust in relation to a 1975 Act claim brought by the deceased's widow and also in relation to wider negotiations with the other beneficiaries (with the co-operation of the executors and trustees) as to how the estate should be administered in light of existing practical and technical difficulties in complying with the deceased's wishes.