Trusts: It's All A Mistake

In its judgment of 19th September 2016 in In the matter of D, E and F Trusts [2016] JRC 166C, the Royal Court applied, for the first time, the statutory mistake provisions embodied in Article 47E of the Trusts (Jersey) Law 1984 (which provisions were introduced in 2013).

Facts

On 20th March 2009, the applicant (the Settlor) established three Jersey law trusts, the C, H and J Trusts, with cash in the sum of US$100. The principal trusts were for the Settlor during his lifetime as to both capital and income, and from and after his death for such of the beneficiaries as the trustee might in her discretion determine. The trusts were intended to be tax efficient vehicles for succession planning for the Settlor's family. The Settlor was resident in Switzerland and his two sons were resident in the United States of America. The structures were intended achieve US tax objectives, in particular to ensure that any distributions to the Settlor's sons were not subject to US