“A beneficiaries dispute is regarded as ordinary hostile litigation in which costs follow the event and do not come out of the trust estate: see per Hoffmann L.J. in McDonald v. Horn [1995] I.C.R. 685, 696.”
“The suggestion of the appointment of a fourth director is not going to achieve anything of value and, in any event, the trustees should not be taking any significant steps in the administration of the trusts, save those necessary to prevent loss. Your latest letter is an attempt to provide a veneer of respectability to the trustees’ conduct and their previous failures to engage with our client in any meaningful way. It is too little, too late.”
“He found himself in a position where he had only two choices: either seek the removal of the trustees or simply walk away from the trusts and any possibility of future benefit for himself, his wife or his children. This is in reality no choice at all, and for his wife and children, if not for himself, he was forced to take a stand. He did not create this situation. Despite some criticisms by the Court, the Court has not found that he did.”
“what is ‘a reasonable sum on account of costs’ will have to be an estimate dependent on the circumstances, the chief of which is that there will, by definition, have been no detailed assessment and thus an element of uncertainty, the extent of which may differ widely from case to case as to what will be allowed on detailed assessment. The judge explained ([23] and [24]) that a reasonable sum would often be one that was an estimate of the likely level of recovery subject, to an appropriate margin to allow for error in the estimation. This can be done by taking the lowest figure in a likely range or making a deduction from a single estimated figure or perhaps from the lowest figure in the range if the range itself is not very broad. In determining whether to order any payment and its amount, account needs to be taken of all relevant factors including the likelihood (if it can be assessed) of the claimants being awarded the costs that they seek or a lesser and if so what proportion of them; the difficulty, if any, that may be faced in recovering those costs; the likelihood of a successful appeal; the means of the parties; the imminence of any assessment; any relevant delay and whether the paying party will have any difficulty in recovery in the case of any overpayment.”