Disclosure Of Trust Documents To Non-beneficiaries: Latest Guidance From Guernsey

Trustees holding confidential and commercially sensitive information and documents sometimes face claims for disclosure by third parties who are not within the beneficial class.

The Guernsey Court of Appeal has recently provided helpful guidance on the court's inherent jurisdiction to order a trustee to give disclosure to a person who is not the object of any dispositive power, but who is the object of a widely drawn power to be added to the beneficial class.

By its August 2025 decision in BX v T Ltd (as trustee of the W Trust) & ors, the Guernsey Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal (brought by such a third party) against the prior decision of the Guernsey Royal Court to refuse disclosure and in so doing confirmed the high bar that must be met for such disclosure applications to succeed.