In the Matter of the C Trust [2019] SC (Bda) 44 Civ (22 July
2019)
The Chief Justice of Bermuda has handed down an important
decision dealing with the power of the court to intervene in the
administration of a trust to approve actions of improperly
appointed trustees. The case is important since it confirms the
inherent jurisdiction of the court, upon the appointment of
trustees, to grant them leave to administer the trust on the basis
that they had been properly appointed on a prior date.
The facts of the C Trust case were straightforward. The Trust
made provision for a Protector but the corporate entity that had
been acting as Protector for some years (and purported to appoint
the Plaintiff as trustee in 2015) was not in fact the Protector.
The Plaintiff, having been advised that it had not been properly
appointed, sought an order under section 31(1) of the Trustee Act
1975 that it be appointed and an order confirming that it was at
liberty to continue to manage
