Feb 2013
BERMUDA
COURT OF APPEAL
TRUSTS – APPLICATION FOR DOCUMENTS – CONFIDENTIALITY – INFORMATION CONTROL CLAUSE – DUTIES OF TRUSTEES – ROLE OF PROTECTOR
This Appeal arises from a judgment of the Chief Justice on the Application of a beneficiary under a Bermuda Trust. The Order of the Chief Justice required the Trustee to produce Trust Accounts and related documents to the Applicant, with safeguards intended to maintain their confidentiality and restricting the use that he may make of them. The Protector, who is also the principal beneficiary of the Trust, brought the appeal, naming the Applicant as First Respondent and the Trustee as Second Respondent.
The Applicant was a beneficiary of an absolute interest in 35% of the Trust, the assets of which are believed to be worth in the region of US$1 billion. The Appellant was the Principal Beneficiary of the majority (65%) of the Trust assets. The originating application raised the novel question of the impact of an information control clause or mechanism on this Court’s supervisory jurisdiction over a Bermudian trust. However, the Appeal was dismissed, for reasons which echoed those of the Chief Justice.