Discretionary Trusts
Question
Gareth Thomas
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many cases of trustee mismanagement of asset protection trusts were investigated by his Department in each of the last three years.
Answer
Sarah SackmanThe trustees of a trust hold assets for the benefit of others (the beneficiaries of the trust) under the terms of the trust document.
The general law of trusts enables the beneficiaries of a trust to hold the trustees to account to the extent permitted by the trust instrument or in legislation. In appropriate cases, it may be possible for the beneficiaries to have the trustees removed and replaced.
The decision as to whether to take action against the trustees is, in the absence of a crime, for the beneficiaries affected, and disputes are determined by the courts rather than investigated by Government.