Rupert Cohen appears in the Court of Appeal in Brealey v Shepherd & Co in an appeal concerning trustee remuneration

Rupert Cohen represented the Appellant firm of solicitors in the Court of Appeal on Tuesday before Coulson LJ, Newey LJ and Sir Nicholas Patten in an appeal concerning: (i) the proper interpretation of s.29 of the Trustee Act 2000; and (ii) the test for the Court to invoke its inherent jurisdiction to award remuneration to an trustee for services rendered.

S.29 TA 2000 enables trustees to agree amongst themselves for one of their number who is a professional trustee to receive reasonable remuneration for services provided to the trust. The question of interpretation was whether the requirement for agreement included obtaining agreement from a person nominated as executor in a will who had yet to accept the office.

On the second issue the question was whether the inherent jurisdiction was to be invoked for the “good administration of the trust” (as in Re Duke of Norfolk’s Settlement Trusts [1982] Ch 61) or only to be “exercised sparingly and in exceptional circumstances” (as in Re Worthington [1954] 1 WLR 526).

Judgment was reserved.