New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Topic

Reasonableness of trustee conduct

Legal area

Court

20 Jul 2017

BURNSIDE v BURNSIDE NO 2 [2017] NZHC 1678

Citation

[2017] NZHC 1678
Court

High Court

Both trustees acted unreasonably and their collective dysfunctional conduct caused the litigation; beneficiaries should not fund the cost of that misconduct, therefore costs are not to be charged to the estate and instead lie where they fall.
26 May 2014

GRANT v McDERMOTT & ANOR [2014] NZHC 1120

Citation

[2014] NZHC 1120
Court

High Court

The Court found the trustee/plaintiff did not act unreasonably or with bias, the question required judicial determination and involved real complexity, and the costs and disbursements were properly and reasonably incurred in the administration and litigation; accordingly the trustee was entitled to indemnity from the estate and the costs of all parties were ordered to be met from the estate.