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Channel Islands trustees can take comfort from a judgment of the Privy Council, which has ruled on the application and meaning of an important Article of the Jersey Trusts Law, according to Bedell Cristin Partner, Rob Gardner. At stake was whether the personal assets of the trustees were at risk when they were involved in large commercial borrowings as trustees of a Jersey law trust.
The case, on appeal to the Privy Council from the Guernsey Court of Appeal, involves Guernsey-based trustees of certain Tchenguiz family trusts, Investec Trust (Guernsey) Ltd and Bayeux Trustees Ltd, which assumed liability for large banking facilities initially advanced by Kaupthing Bank.
Central to the findings was that Article 32 of the Jersey Trusts Law can assist the trustees of a Jersey law trust when the extent of their liabilities is subject to litigation before the Royal Court of Guernsey, thereby offering protection to the trustees in respect of their personal assets.
Rob Gardner outlines the further implications of the judgment here.
