ABSTRACT
Trustees are fortunate to have available a process where they can seek the Court’s blessing as to proposed actions and decisions, a remedy not widely available to decision-makers outside of a trusts context. However, with blessing applications becoming increasingly common (particularly in offshore jurisdictions), it is questionable whether trustees are being overly cautious in their approach. Are professional trustees who are paid for the performance of their duties too readily rushing to Court (often at great expense to the Trust Fund) in order to safeguard against remote hypothetical risks? Reviewing recent cases, this article will consider whether the industry has gone too far in its adoption of ‘blessing’ applications, and whether Courts may seek to restrict the ‘momentous’ circumstances that justify an application. We will consider the types of matters which may justify a ‘blessing’ application, both from a legal and commercial perspective, and the alternative options which may be available to trustees when making significant decisions.
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Robert Lindley and Wesley O’Brien, Professional trustees: is it time to get on with the job? A discussion on whether Public Trustee v Cooper ‘blessing’ applications are being abused by overly cautious trustees, Trusts and Trustees, https://doi.org/10.1093/tandt/ttaa066. Published: 12 September 2020.
First posted 2020-09-17 17:10:56
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