Beneficiaries´ Rights To The Disclosure of Trust Documents

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this briefing note is to consider Jersey trust law in relation to beneficiaries' rights to trust documents, in particular, Article 29 of the Trusts (Jersey) Law 1984, as amended, and the cases of In re Rabaiotti 1989 Settlement [2000 JLR 173] and Schmidt v. Rosewood Trust Company Ltd [2003] 3 All ER 76.

TRUSTEES' DUTY TO ACCOUNT

In the English case of Armitage v. Nurse [1998] Ch 241 it was held that there was an irreducible core of obligations owed by a trustee to beneficiaries which is fundamental to the concept of a trust. If those obligations are missing then there is no trust. The duty of a trustee to account to beneficiaries for his administration of a trust is one of those core obligations and the right of beneficiaries to trust documents enables beneficiaries to enforce that duty to account.