Trusts Litigation

UK

Our award-winning trusts litigation team is "recognised for its experience advising trustees and private wealth funds" (Chambers UK). We pride ourselves on giving "very commercial…practical advice to deal with complex situations" (Legal 500).

The team has a wealth of experience of trust disputes - both onshore and offshore. We act for professional trustees in complex, often multi-jurisdictional litigation, drawing on our network of specialist advisers to ensure seamless service wherever your proceedings may be.

We regularly deal with cases in the BVI, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Jersey, Guernsey and Singapore as well as in the High Court in London.

Client work

We offer a litigation-led service helping our clients handle all aspects of contentious trusts proceedings, including:

  • claims by and against professional trustees, including breach of trust claims, construction of trust documentation and applications for court guidance
  • disputes between beneficiaries, co-trustees or successor trustees
  • third party attacks on trusts
  • constructive, resulting and sham trusts
  • international and cross-jurisdictional trust litigation
  • international asset tracing and recovery and accessory liability risks for trustees
  • trustees issues arising from foreign litigation

Recent examples of our trusts litigation work include:

  • Acting for professional trustees defending multi-million pound claims in England, New York and Bermuda relating to the Kingate Funds, which invested some US$1.7 billion of subscriber money into Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.
  • Advising offshore trustees to dispose, pre-action, of breach of trust claims.
  • Acting for Merrill Lynch Bank & Trust Company (Cayman) Limited and others in a successful Privy Council appeal.
  • Negotiating the settlement of a multi-million pound High Court claim alleging breach of duty and negligence against a trust company and its former directors.