Amanda Hardy QC and Oliver Marre secure trust variation and anonymity ruling

Oliver Marre successfully represented the Claimant trustees and Amanda Hardy QC the minor beneficiaries in a Variation of Trusts Act application before Chief Master Marsh.

The variation of the terms of the settlement over very significant assets has achieved greater flexibility and widened the beneficial class as well as setting the perpetuity and accumulation periods running afresh for 125 years.

The Chief Master also made an order granting anonymity to the parties and reporting restrictions over various other aspects of the case.  Privacy in trust variation applications has been a topic of increasing concern since the decision of the Court of Appeal in MN v OP [2019] EWCA Civ 679. This application has demonstrated that in appropriate cases, parties can still safeguard their anonymity in High Court proceedings of this nature in the Business and Property Courts.

Amanda was instructed by the Cambridge office of Howes Percival LLP and Oliver by the Leeds office.