Removal Of A Trust Protector - Some New Law

Reported decisions on the circumstances in which the protector of a trust may be removed from office by the court are few and far between, and have previously been confined to the most extreme situations – for example those in which the protector had misappropriated trust funds, or else was pursuing claims against the trust.

Now the recent decision of the Royal Court of Jersey in The Matter of The A and B Trusts [2012] JRC 169A, which was handed down in 2012 but can only now be made public, has shed considerable new light on the circumstances in which a Protector may be removed, and on the appropriate test.

The facts of the case cannot fully be reported for reasons of confidentiality, but they can be summarised as follows.  The applicants comprised the majority of the adult beneficiaries of two Jersey trusts.  They sought the removal of the protector on a number of grounds, but principally that he mistakenly believed his role to be to act as the living guardian