A Comparison Of Jersey And Guernsey Trusts Laws

The trust laws of Jersey and Guernsey are very similar for two main reasons. Both jurisdictions imported the trust from English law as it is not part of the ancient Norman customary law upon which Jersey and Guernsey law are based, so statute was used to create certainty.

Jersey enacted the Trusts (Jersey) Law 1984 ("TJL"), which has seen five major amendments, the last, Amendment No. 5, is due to be approved by the Privy Council in October 2012 to keep it up to meet the needs of an increasing competitive and global market. The Trusts (Guernsey) Law, 1989 was very much modelled on the Jersey statute (as indeed is the trust legislation of a number of other jurisdictions), and was also amended a number of times. That statute, with further developments, was consolidated into the Trusts (Guernsey) Law 2007 ("TGL"). Thus whilst the TGL may appear to be much more modern that than the TJL, this is only by virtue of the consolidation into a new statute rather than further