The High Court has adjourned an application by Karen Stanley and Frances Stanley to have a trust created under Thomas Heuston Stanley’s will declared void for uncertainty, ordering that the two other trustees be added as defendants.
Mr Justice David Keane made the order on 15 January 2016. He did not decide whether the trust was valid or determine the applicants’ arguments about its terms. The ruling says the application will be adjourned to give the applicants a reasonable opportunity to take the consequential steps required by the Rules of the Superior Courts if they intend to maintain it.
The trust arose under a will executed in 2002, following the settlor’s death in 2012. The applicants are his daughter and widow. They are also executors, trustees and beneficiaries under the will. The judge noted that they had not specified the capacity in which they brought the proceedings and that, if the trust failed, they appeared likely to have a personal interest in the estate’s distribution under intestacy rules. The available evidence did not establish whether the daughter was the settlor’s only issue or whether additional beneficiaries had been appointed.
The judge highlighted the applicants’ duties as trustees and the potential conflict between those duties and their personal interests. The other trustees, solicitor Donal Branigan and auditor Vincent Murray, had each replied that they had “no objection” to the application. The judge said the evidence did not explain how their disengagement accorded with their responsibilities. He also considered that Branigan might be able to provide evidence about the will and its preparation if extrinsic evidence became relevant.
The court said the other trustees’ informal notice of the proceedings was insufficient to represent the trust’s interests or those of potential beneficiaries. It ordered Murray and Branigan joined as defendants in their capacities as trustees, under the court’s supervisory jurisdiction and Order 15, rule 13. The ruling expressly left the application undecided at this stage.