TRUSTEES PERSONAL LIABILITY FOR LEGAL COSTS.

The May 2006 judgment in the Royal Court in Jersey in the "Alhamrani" case has now firmly put a "line in the sand" in regard to excessive legal costs of trust litigation and the potential personal liability for trustees. We have produced a full and detailed note on the "Alhamrani" judgment. To receive the your free copy please do not hesitate to e-mail us. (An edited version will be published in the STEP magazine.)

Following the judgment we are now offering the following dedicated services for Trustees:

Contentious legal costs-(Litigation costs)

1. Preparation and advising on all aspects of Legal Budgets.

2. Advising upon the potential legal spend (including potential third party costs) to the value of trust/matter in dispute.

3. Monitoring the legal spend against the legal budget.

4. Advising on best practice to obtain best value for lawyers.

Non-contentious costs.

4. Advising on all professional fees.

I refer you to paragraph 22 of The Bailiff's judgment in which he states:

"As a matter of good practice it seems to me that trustees should forward accounts in appropriate circumstances to the beneficiaries to ascertain whether there are such objections..This is consistent with JFSC in its Codes"