Should I Stay Or Should I Go? The Classic Clash Over Trustee Removal And Replacement

Many trust disputes are not about what a trustee may or may not have done but about who should or shouldn't be the trustee.  A common situation is where one member of a family has the power (for example as protector or settlor) to hire and fire the trustee.

Where the family is itself in dispute, the exercise of that power of removal and appointment can be seen as a nuclear option for one faction to look to take control or scupper envisaged trustee decisions.

For the potentially outgoing trustee caught in the middle, it presents a difficult matter that could end up in protracted proceedings analysing the regularity or rationality of the decision to remove and replace the trustee, particularly where different groups of beneficiaries are making polar opposite demands – hand over the reins versus stay and protect the trust.