When Should a Trustee Seek the Court’s Blessing? Lessons from Ludlow Trust Company v Homfray

When should a trustee ask the court for help, and when is that a waste of the beneficiaries’ money? In this episode of HNW Advisor, Roman Kubiak (Partner and Head of Private Wealth Disputes, Hugh James) and Daniel Bradshaw (Associate, Private Wealth Disputes, Hugh James) discuss Ludlow Trust Company v Homfray [2026] EWHC 1107 (Ch). The case shows both sides of the line unusually clearly. The dispute concerned a 1945 settlement with a cross-accruer clause, two later Variation of Trusts Act orders, and a £3.1 million fund left when Simon died without children in 2021. The case turned on two words, “shall” and “subsisting”. The question was whether David’s fund was still subsisting when Simon died, even though David had died in 1998 and his fund had already been distributed. The trustees took a neutral position and sought the court’s determination. The court agreed this was a legitimate application. However, it said a separate request, to distribute on the footing that a 95-year-old beneficiary would have no more children, would on its own have been a waste of the trust fund. Roman and Daniel cover the s.48 Administration of Justice Act 1985 route, the four categories of trustee application set out in Public Trustee v Cooper, and how Denaxe Ltd v Cooper changed the protection a blessing order gives. They also discuss what offshore practice in Jersey, Guernsey and the BVI can teach onshore trustees. Roman sets out five questions every trustee should ask before going to court. Topics covered: → Why Ludlow v Homfray matters for trustees → Construing old trust instruments that have been amended over generations → Cross-accruer clauses and the meaning of “subsisting” → s.48 applications and canvassing beneficiaries’ views → Construction vs blessing: the Public Trustee v Cooper categories → The line between momentous and routine decisions → Denaxe v Cooper: a blessing is not a rubber stamp → Five questions to ask before going to court → Offshore perspectives: Jersey, Guernsey and the BVI → Fertility, IVF and the “no more children” assumption → Why documenting the decision matters, whether you go to court or not #HNWAdvisor #PCDGroup #Trusts #TrusteeDuties #PrivateWealth #ContentiousTrusts #PrivateClient #WealthDisputes