Susannah Meadway

Susannah has very extensive experience of applications to the Court under the Variation of Trusts Act 1958, including for the extension of perpetuity and accumulation periods, and in relation to landed estates and multi-billion pound trust funds. In the majority of such cases a judgement is not given, but those where it has been include:

• Ware v Ware [2021] EWHC 694 (Ch), [2021] WTLR 725: Rectification of a deed of appointment to make void the termination of an interest in possession.
• MN v OP [2019] EWCA Civ 679; 22 ITELR 61. This started life as an application for the approval of a variation extending the perpetuity and accumulation periods applicable to a settlement, but ended in the Court of Appeal with an important judgment on the granting of anonymity orders in proceedings under the Variation of Trusts Act 1958.
• A v B [2016] EWHC 3740 (Ch); [2016] WTLR 745: Where the Court approved the extension of the perpetuity and accumulation periods applicable to the trusts of a dynastic settlement of a very large landed estate, sanctioning an unusual procedure which obviated the need to join all possible beneficiaries to the application.
• C v C [2015] EWHC 2699 (Ch); [2016] WTLR 223: Where the Court accepted it had jurisdiction to vary the trusts of a foreign law settlement.
• DC v AC [2016] EWHC 477 (Ch): Where the Court approved the extension of the perpetuity and accumulation periods applicable to the trusts of a number of very large dynastic settlements.
• Bathurst v Bathurst [2016] EWHC 3033 (Ch): A variation involving an issue on the change of the provisions for the appointment of new trustees.

She also has a specialism in the rectification and/or setting aside of trust documents, her reported cases in this area being:

• Ware v Ware [2021] EWHC 694 (Ch), [2021] WTLR 725: Rectification of a deed of appointment to make void the termination of an interest in possession.
• RBC Trustees (CI) Ltd v Stubbs [2017] EWHC 180 (Ch), [2018] WTLR 1399: Rectification of two deeds of appointment to make void the termination of two interests in possession.
• Chisholm v Chisholm [2011] WTLR 187: Where the Court rectified two trust deeds so as to be bare trusts in accordance with the settlor’s intention.
• Bartlam v Coutts [2006] WTLR 1165: Where the Court rectified a deed of appointment which failed to appoint accumulation and maintenance trusts complying with the relevant requirements for inheritance tax relief.
• Re Bell [2002] WTLR 1105: Concerning the rectification of a will.
• Re Segelman [1996] Ch 171: Concerning the rectification of a will, as well as whether the will created a charitable trust of the testator’s valuable violin collection.

Susannah’s other significant trust cases in recent years are:

• Whythe v Zavos [2024] EWHC 2784 (Ch): Public Trustee v Cooper blessing application for the incorporation of a landed estate where Susannah acted for one of the consenting beneficiaries.
• In the matter of the B Trust [2024] SC (Bda) 71 Civ (4 December 2024): Application to the Bermuda Supreme Court, steered by Susannah (Bermudan counsel appearing), under Bermuda Trustee Act 1975 s. 47 (amending the protectorship provisions and adding charities to the beneficial class of a number of settlements owning a multi-billion pound international business), and under the Bermuda Perpetuities and Accumulations Act 2009 (disapplying the rule against perpetuities, and extending the trust periods of the settlements).
• PQ v RS [2019] EWHC 1643 (Ch): On the scope of special powers of appointment.

More generally, Susannah advises and assists trustees and beneficiaries in achieving their objectives, ensuring that their trusts are suited to both family and fiscal circumstances, whether by the use of applicable powers in the trust documents, the agreement of all concerned or (where neither of the previous methods is available) the assistance of the Court.

Susannah is, and has been, an editor of Williams on Wills for the last 3 editions.