Unscrambling The Omelette – Ratification And Trustees De Son Tort

In a recent decision of the Deputy Bailiff, In Re Blackberry Trust [2023] JRC156 the Royal Court of Jersey has taken the relatively unusual step of depriving a professional trustee of a significant portion of its costs incurred in relation to an application for rectification of its actions while a trustee de son tort.

Background

This decision follows the earlier decision (reported at [2022] JRC 179) in which the Royal Court held that an instrument dated 31 January 2020, purporting to appoint Appledore Trustees Limited as professional trustee of the Blackberry Trust, had been ineffective.

The result of that finding was that Appledore had administered the Blackberry Trust as a trustee de son tort (i.e. a person who assumes to act as trustee without having been properly appointed as one) for a period of nearly two and half years. It had undertaken numerous transactions and made significant distributions to or for the benefit of beneficiaries, purportedly as the