CHARTERS V RIKA AND ANOR HC ROT CIV 2009-463-381

CHARTERS V RIKA AND ANOR HC ROT CIV 2009-463-381

The Court directed that the trustees are entitled to exercise the power of appointment in clause 8 to distribute any part up to the whole of the trust capital, may distribute along family/whanau lines and to whanau trusts, are not obliged to base distributions on individual need, may apportion equally across whanau lines at their discretion, and that Mrs Frances Nicoll and her descendants are discretionary beneficiaries; the Court gave Mr Warwick Rika an opportunity to resign by 15 December 2009 before considering removal and awarded costs on a solicitor/client basis to counsel from the estate.

Citation
openlaw-4331cca5_d565_479c_bc54_b52c08167088.pdf
Parties
Plaintiff: Richard Thomas Charters; First Defendant: John Teuruoteao Rika; Second Defendant: Warwick Rika
Court
High Court
Jurisdiction
New Zealand
Judgment Date
1 December 2009
Procedural Posture
Declaratory Judgment Under Declaratory Judgments Act 1908 and Trustee Act 1956 / Judgment
Outcome
Declarations and directions granted by consent allowing broad distribution powers to trustees; provisional resolution re trustee removal; costs awarded to counsel from the estate
Legal Topics
Distribution of Trust Corpus, Trustees' Discretionary Powers, Beneficiary Entitlements, Removal of Trustee, Costs
Trusts Estate Law Maori Land Law Civil Procedure Distribution of Trust Corpus Trustees' Discretionary Powers Beneficiary Entitlements Removal of Trustee +1 more

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Parties

Richard Thomas Charters

Plaintiff

John Teuruoteao Rika

First Defendant

Warwick Rika

Second Defendant

Procedural Posture

Declaratory Judgment Under Declaratory Judgments Act 1908 and Trustee Act 1956 / Judgment

Legal Issues

  1. 1 Whether trustees may distribute capital under clause 8 of the will
  2. 2 Whether distributions must be made equally across whanau trusts
  3. 3 Whether trustees may distribute whole or substantially whole of the trust fund

Ratio Decidendi

The Court directed that the trustees are entitled to exercise the power of appointment in clause 8 to distribute any part up to the whole of the trust capital, may distribute along family/whanau lines and to whanau trusts, are not obliged to base distributions on individual need, may apportion equally across whanau lines at their discretion, and that Mrs Frances Nicoll and her descendants are discretionary beneficiaries; the Court gave Mr Warwick Rika an opportunity to resign by 15 December 2009 before considering removal and awarded costs on a solicitor/client basis to counsel from the estate.

Court Disposition

Declarations and directions granted by consent allowing broad distribution powers to trustees; provisional resolution re trustee removal; costs awarded to counsel from the estate

Orders

  • Trustees entitled to distribute under the power of appointment in clause 8 for the widest possible range of purposes they consider beneficial to recipients
  • Trustees entitled to distribute any part of the trust fund up to and including the whole of its capital under the power of appointment