Guernsey Royal Court finds a dishonest breach of trust: acting ‘en bon père de famille’

Abstract

Abstract In handing down its judgment in the matter of Nina Naustdal v TKC Corporate Services NV and two others on 23 December 2022, the Royal Court of Guernsey found that the First Defendant, a professional trustee, had acted in dishonest breach of trust. At the heart of the judgment was that the principal asset of the Trust had been transferred out of trust to benefit a stranger to the trust, constituting a fraud on a power. Amongst the various other relief that it granted, the Court declared that the purported transfer of trust property by the trustee was void. Furthermore, it ordered that the trustee be deprived of its indemnity for any legal fees and disbursements in connection with the proceedings and to repay any sums that had been taken from the trust.