The appellants, a lawyer practising in Kuwait, a client and a Kuwaiti trading company, had agreed to assist the defendants acting on behalf of a trust in investing in an Arab country about US$65. They agreed to identify suitable investments and to manage those investments on behalf of the trust. In return the appellants were offered 40 percent of the trust capital and 15 percent of the income. However, the capital money was held in Benin and, in order that it could be transferred out of that country to the appellants, various payments had first to be satisfied. This demand was part of a fraudulent scheme by the defendants. The appellants agreed to contribute and between August 2001 and March 2002, they paid, on the instructions of the fraudsters, a total of US$1.375 million. Two of these payments, US$400,000 and US$225,000 were paid into the account of a Nigerian bank,...

A company, TVL invited investors to invest in a scheme whereby TVL would buy properties on their behalf. Some investors were told they had shares in specific properties and others were not. There was nothing to limit the number of shares TVL would sell and the calculation of profits was entirely at their discretion. A guaranteed return of 20% per annum for a share of the profits was guaranteed if they remained in the scheme until the end. In addition to acting for investors TVL was involved in projects of its own for which some of the funds from investors may or may not have been used for these. On TVL's insolvency the investors took action to recover their funds from the Credit Union, the bank that TVL had used to hold and disburse the funds. The investors argued that there was either a trust or a fiduciary relationship between...

Certainty of subject matter John Goldsworth John Goldsworth Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Trusts & Trustees, Volume 13, Issue 10, December 2007, Pages 613–614, https://doi.org/10.1093/tandt/ttm115 Published: 04 December 2007

Text books on the law of trusts can be of two sorts. First, there is the long and erudite explanation on the theory of trusts dealing with equity and its history and all the usual conflict between obligations and property rights. On the other hand, there is the purely practical manual which cuts through the theory and which may be used, alongside a telephone, to provide quick answers to troublesome questions. John Thurston's book is clearly of the latter sort. He plunges into the essential features of trusts straight away; the word ‘equity’ does not even appear in the index! In Chapter 1, on ‘The essential elements of a trust and formalities’, he does not even waste practitioners’ time by debating a definition of trusts in the usual academic way. He deals with the certainties required to constitute a valid trust and other important matters and clears the matter up...

A syndicate of banks and financial institutions made funds available to the Bank of Zambia by letters of credit subject to English law in the principal amount of £100 million to assist finance oil imports. Essential to these arrangements was a contract between the Bank of Zambia and the Bank of America NA containing a clause, Article 12.01(A), prohibiting the assignment of the benefit of the contract without the written consent of the Bank of Zambia and then only to other banks or financial institutions. The Bank of America Limited, as it was then, acted as agent and manager. The advances, the basis of the claim, were made in January 1986 with maturity dates in June and July of that year. The claimant claimed two principal amounts totalling US$ 809,387 and interest of US$ 2,805,442. No limitation issues were relevant; the debts having been acknowledged on the 6 February 1998 and the proceedings commenced on 30 January 2004 due to the relevant advances not having been repaid by the Bank of Zambia.

The Pensions Act 2004 (Sections 247–249) requires trustees to have knowledge and understanding of the law relating to pensions and trusts, and the principles relating to the funding of occupational schemes and the investment of scheme assets. They must also be conversant with their own scheme's policy documents. Accordingly, the code of practice on trustee knowledge and understanding helps trustees to comply with the requirements (see www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk). The Trustee toolkit syllabus also forms the basis of a new voluntary qualification for trustees launched by the Pensions Management Institute. This new voluntary qualification will replace the current Trustee Certificate. Aimed at trustees, the Trustee toolkit focuses on the relationship trustees have with their fund manager and what they should expect from them and from investment consultants. In the module, trustees learn how to: review and measure a fund manager's performance; select a fund manager; consider the various types of fund...

ATC took over from Rothschild as trustee to two trusts but Rothschild's refused to relinquish the trust assets to ATC until an indemnity to its satisfaction had been provided by ATC. Because of an impasse being reached between the two trustees, ATC applied to the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands for the court's opinion on the true construction of the trust deed. The problem came about because ATC made a reasonable pre-estimate of the liabilities, which could arise to Rothschild and offered to undertake that ATC would withhold a certain sum of money and not allow the trusts funds to be depleted below that amount for a specified period. The details of this were to be agreed. However, Rothschild said they were unable to agree to this course of action on the grounds that to withhold or retain a specified sum within the trusts would operate as an impermissible...

The general intention of the Toland Trust, a discretionary settlement governed by the law of Jersey, was expressed in a letter of wishes that the immediate family of the settlor should benefit. A general power of appointment was given to the trustees. Considerable capital gains accrued, and the trustees were advised that a new settlement should be established within a trust period ending automatically with that of the Toland Trust. Unfortunately this advice was not followed. A new trust, the Pennywise Trust, provided for a trust period which exceeded that of the Toland Trust. This meant that any appointment to this second trust would infringe a provision of the Toland Trust because the trustees of that trust were only empowered to appoint funds to another trust where ‘no interest thereunder is capable of vesting in interest later than the expiration of the trust period!’, that is only for the period...

A settlement, created in 1994 by a UK resident for UK capital gains tax purposes, was governed by British Virgin Island law. The trustees, in 2000, made two investments through a Guernsey protected cell company. Before the second investment, the UK tax legislation changed. The trustees were not advised of the change and the investment went ahead; this comprised £750,000 paid by an investment company also controlled by the trustees, to the trustee, of which £712,000 was then paid as a loan to one of the cells of the Guernsey company. The unheeded change of legislation resulted in a substantial tax liability for the settlor. The trustee applied to the court for a declaration that the trustee's decision to accept the loan was void or voidable under the rule in Hastings-Bass. The judge (Levers J), in the Cayman Island Grand Court, required a notice to be served on the UK Inland Revenue Commissioners but they advised the court that they did not wish to take part in the proceedings.

Somewhere in history, there was a golden age of trusts. When that was, is difficult to say. Perhaps it was when Lord Nottingham, in the 17th century, brought order to Chancery cases and, by making equity a proper body of legal precedent, overcame the opinions then that Chancery decisions varied according to the length of the Chancellor's foot. These principles still give the English type of trust its particular details and characteristics. Or perhaps the idea of a golden age is a myth; as with most golden ages, nostalgia is all-important, such as transatlantic liner crossings and English cricket. Probably it is foolish to consider that litigation about anything can approach the mellowness implied by such a description: no matter what the state of the law, the antagonism between litigants, the anguish and expense must cancel any thought that the dispute is enriching the culture of the jurisdiction in which...

Fit and proper John Goldsworth John Goldsworth Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Trusts & Trustees, Volume 13, Issue 2, February 2007, Pages 31–32, https://doi.org/10.1093/tandt/ttl054 Published: 19 February 2007

After having obtained a decree of divorce in default of appearance, the wife of a German national, Franz Wilhelm Kohlrautz, who had retired after a successful career as an offshore investment adviser, appointed a receiver to obtain possession of the matrimonial property. This property was alleged by the wife to include substantial assets held by companies in various parts of the world. Mr Kohlrautz, on the other hand, said he had no beneficial interest in these assets and they belonged to clients or third parties. Mareva injunctions, Anton Piller orders and proceedings in the United States, Switzerland, Germany, Liechtenstein, England, Jersey and The Bahamas, sought to obtain possession of this property. Mr Kohlrautz found a friend in Dr Diedrichs-Shurland, another German also living in The Bahamas, and her husband, Mr Kemuel Shurland, a criminal lawyer. They offered to help Mr Kohlrautz by providing legal services and by Dr Diedrichs-Shurland holding...