Trustee Decision Making: The Rule in Re Hastings-Bass

“Trustee Decision Making: The Rule in Re Hastings-Bass” analyses and explains the ways in which the courts control the exercise of trustees’ powers and discretions, in the light of the momentous decision of the Supreme Court in Pitt v Holt. It sets out to explain both the duty of trustees to take into account all relevant and no irrelevant considerations, and the consequences, for both trustees and beneficiaries, of a breach of that duty.

It particularly focuses on the many practical questions which will continue to arise in this complex area, including how far trustees are protected from liability by reliance on their professional advisers, and the application of the Re Hastings-Bass principle to administrative powers, and to fiduciaries other than trustees. The book also considers the operation of the long-standing but often misunderstood doctrines of fraud on a power and mistake, and the overlap between these and Re Hastings-Bass.

Trustee Decision Making: The Rule in Re Hastings-Bass