Judgement Summary: Offshore Assets And The Divorce

BJ v MJ and Others [2011] EWHC 2708 (Fam)

This is an English High Court (Family Division) case involving a Jersey proper law trust whereby Mostyn J examined the treatment of a Jersey trust in divorce proceedings and made an interesting comment about a Jersey trustee's potential involvement in proceedings.

Background

The parties married in 1980 and were both aged 65. They had one adult child. The wealth derived from the husband's interest in a company in which he had worked during the marriage. That wealth was settled into two Jersey trusts. The beneficial class of the No 1 Trust included the husband, the wife and their child. The husband and wife were excluded from the No 2 Trust, although there was power to add the wife after the divorce.