Our leading Trust Disputes team has been involved in most of the major trust-related cases in Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Guernsey, Isle of Man and Jersey. These jurisdictions are leading offshore centres in the development of trust law. Our lawyers possess a unique concentration of expertise in acting for trustees, beneficiaries, settlors and protectors on all manner of claims, including:
- Validation and administration of trusts, including the consideration of sham trusts, constructive trusteeship and tracing claims
- Bringing or defending actions against trustees for breach of trust
- Resolving disputes among beneficiaries or between them and trustees
- Representation of minor and unascertained beneficiaries
- Applications for court approval for the variation or resettlement of trusts
- Applications to court for directions by trustees or beneficiaries
Our Dispute Resolution team works closely with Appleby’s Private Client & Trusts lawyers on trust disputes matters.
Some recent examples of work include:
- Representing Prince Jefri Bolkiah of Brunei in high-profile litigation with the Sultan of Brunei to recover assets arising out of alleged misappropriation of US$15 billion from the Brunei Investment Agency, requiring parallel proceedings in both the Cayman Islands and Jersey
- Acting in relation to the recovery of funds said to have been deposited in a bank in the Isle of Man by Abdul Kadhir Abacha, brother of the late General Abacha, the former military dictator of Nigeria
- Advising a trustee in relation to a hostile application to remove its co-trustee as trustee of a number of trusts on the basis of a clear and obvious conflict of interest, culminating in an order from the Royal Court of Jersey removing the co-trustee
