Supreme Court Evaluates Scope Of Trustees' Protection In Contentious Trust Litigation

Discovery applications in contentious trust litigation in the Bahamas can be made by beneficiaries. In a decision handed down earlier in 2018 (Dawson-Damer v Grampian Trust Company Ltd (2015/CLE/gen/0034)), the Supreme Court assessed the protection afforded to trustees by virtue of Section 83 of the Trustee Act 1998,¹ which provides that a trustee cannot be bound or compelled by way of discovery to disclose information and documents about a trust.

Background

Section 83 provides as follows:

(8) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this section, trustees shall not be bound or compelled by any process of discovery or inspection or under any equitable rule or principle to disclose or produce to any beneficiary or other person any of the following documents, that is to say -