In what circumstances can a trustee seek direction from the court to proceed with an action in which the beneficiaries of the trust have been denied access to the trustee's funds?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from Toigo Estate (Re), 2018 BCSC 936 (CanLII):
In Public Trustee v. Cooper, [2001] W.T.L.R. 901 Ch (Eng) at 922-924, Mr. Justice Hart detailed categories of cases in which trustees can seek directions from the court. Relevant to this case in particular, he stated the following: (2) The second category is where the issue is whether the proposed course of action is a proper exercise of the trustees’ powers where there is no real doubt as to the nature of the trustees’ powers and the trustees have decided how they want to exercise them but, because the decision is particularly momentous, the trustees wish to obtain the blessing of the court for the action on which they have resolved and which is within their powers. … In a case like that, there is no question of surrender of discretion and indeed it is most unlikely that the court will be persuaded in the absence of special circumstances to accept the surrender of discretion on a question of that sort, where the trustees are prima facie in a much better position than the court to know what is in the best interests of the beneficiaries.
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