Your challenges
Current market conditions are such that clients are looking at their finances more closely. Was my attitude to risk really all that cavalier? Did I understand what I was getting into? Was it explained to me? Now that I have lost my money, isn’t there someone to blame?
Are you that someone being blamed? A conflict of interest? Maladministration? Whether you are facing a claim for breach of trust, negligence or breach of contract, we can help you resolve your claim. Where complex offshore tax structures are involved we often draw on the firm’s dedicated tax team. Where appropriate, we also draw resources from the firm’s charities and pensions teams.
Achieving your ambitions
Recent examples of our cases include:
- Resolving a claim brought against a Jersey based trust company in London and Jersey. The claim involved the alleged breach of the trustees’ duties in managing a major Italian settlement. The quantum of the claim was in excess of £33 million and involved the setting aside of one of the first worldwide freezing orders. The claim settled for a payment of £1 million including costs, which represented a fraction of the market reserve
- Acting for a Guernsey based professional trustee company in a claim brought by a wealthy claimant for the alleged maladministration of her offshore share portfolio. We defended allegations of collusion with the IFA involved, of the trustees and the IFA investing in funds in which they had an interest (without declaring it), of over-charging commission and of failing to keep the client informed
- Defending a claim brought by beneficiaries against four trustees arising out of the administration of an estate and the sale of part of the land held by the estate at an undervalue;
- resisting an application to remove a trustee by a co-trustee and beneficiary as a consequence of an alleged conflict of interest and the alleged negligent mismanagement of assets in a £1 million trust fund
- Resolving a claim by a widow who alleged that the trustees of a company pension fund failed to action her husband's instructions (given about two to three months before he died) to transfer his pension fund. It was alleged that had the transfer taken place the value of the fund would have been circa £200,000 greater
- Acting for professional trustees in relation to a claim arising from an alleged failure to properly take tax allowances into account when establishing a trust following the death of a married couple
The strength you need
With a spread of lawyers across London, Birmingham, Norwich, Manchester and Leeds, we act for around forty Lloyd’s and London market insurers, as well as their insureds.
We defend claims against trustees and we also have experience of drafting policy wordings on behalf of professional trustees and charitable trustees for insurers.