In its judgment in Cohen & Kerr as Joint Administrators
of the Estate of James Donald Hanson v Arbitrage Research and
Trading S.A. & Ors, the Royal Court has made findings of fraud
against the former trustee of a Jersey trust. The Royal Court has
also revisited the test for determining whether a trust is a sham
and also considered, for the first time, when it might be
appropriate to exercise its statutory jurisdiction to save a trust
which is wholly or partially unlawful.
Facts
Ogier represented the plaintiffs in a ten-day trial.
The case involved the estate of the late James Donald Hanson
(the Estate and Mr Hanson
respectively).
During his lifetime, Mr Hanson had been the second most senior
figure globally within the accountancy firm Arthur Andersen. He
died in England and Wales in October 2014, leaving a multi-million
pound estate. The first plaintiffs are Joint Administrators
appointed by the High Court of England and Wales to administer the
Estate after
