Privy Council hands down landmark judgment in ITG Ltd v Fort Trustees Ltd
17th Oct 2022
Simon Taube KC, Head of Chambers, led the legal team acting for ITG Ltd and Bayeux Ltd in ITG Ltd and others (Respondents) v Fort Trustees Ltd and another (Appellants) (Guernsey). The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council has handed down judgment in the cases of ITG Ltd v Fort Trustees Ltd and Equity Trust (Jersey) Ltd (Respondent) v Halabi (as Executor of the Estate of the Late Madam Intisar Nouri) (Appellant) (Jersey) [2020] UKPC 36.
The appeals concerned the indemnity of successive trustees against the assets of trusts where they have become insolvent. The judgment is available here.
The Board held that:
- the right of indemnity confers on the trustee a proprietary (rather than merely possessory) interest in the trust assets;
- the proprietary interest of a trustee survives the transfer of the trust assets to a successor trustee;
- the successive trustees’ interest in the trust assets rank pari passu where those assets are insufficient to meet all the claims on them made by or through the trustees pursuant to their indemnities; and
- the indemnity extends to the costs of proving the trustee’s claim against the trust assets.
Simon Taube KC
Call 1980
