Transferring Trusts: Disclosure Of Documents Of New Trustees

On 5 January 2012 the Royal Court of Jersey held In the matter of the Bird Trusts [2012] JRC006 that an outgoing trustee is normally under an obligation to hand over all documentation and information (including legal advice) concerning the administration of a trust to the new trustee. However, it should be noted that the Royal Court retains and exercises a supervisory discretion to refuse such disclosure; in such circumstances the onus is on the outgoing trustee to show why the normal rule should not apply.

Position

In this particular case, the issue related to the nature and extent of the obligation of an outgoing trustee to disclose legal advice, obtained at the expense of the trust fund, to the incoming trustee. As legal advice is not "trust property", and therefore not falling within the obligation to deliver trust property to a new trustee pursuant to Article 34 of the Trusts (Jersey) Law 1984 (as amended), the issue needed to be determined by general