The non-intervention principle and disclosure of information to beneficiaries: recent Jersey cases

Abstract

Recent Jersey cases affirm the importance of the non-intervention principle, namely, that the court will not interfere before the trustees have acted to compel a particular exercise of power and that after they have acted it will not overturn their exercise of the power. A question not definitively settled is whether a trustee’s decision concerning the disclosure of trust information to a beneficiary constitutes an exception or whether the court’s role remains a more limited review. Two recent Jersey cases favour the former approach, and this jurisprudence is likely to be influential across other trust jurisdictions where the position has likewise not been decided.