Guidance From The Royal Court For Trustees

Where a Jersey based trustee is proposing to make a "momentous" decision in relation to a trust, the trustee will generally be best advised to seek the blessing of the court before putting that decision into effect.

The Jersey authorities in relation to applications for the court's approval of a trustee's decision are well established. In summary, the court must be satisfied that the trustee's opinion on the decision it wishes to take has been made in good faith, that the opinion is one of a reasonable trustee and that its decision has not been invalidated by any actual or potential conflict of interest. Importantly, the court's role on an application for approval of a trustee's decision does not extend to substituting its decision for that of the trustee. Accordingly, where a trustee is seeking the court's approval for its proposed course of action, the court may only vary the trustee's decision if it is one which no reasonable trustee could have made. Thus,