Trusts and Estates
The “objective” construction of trusts
In
Marley v Rawlings [2015] 1 AC 129 the Supreme Court held that the principles for the construction of a Will are no different to that of a commercial
contract. In the years following this decision a number of lower courts have (perhaps unsurprisingly) said the same is true
for lifetime settlements. In
Millar v Millar [2018] EWHC 1926, a case involving a family settlement, HHJ Paul Matthews stated: “… there can be no doubt that the principles
of interpretation for commercial documents … also apply to trusts and Wills.”
1 The important principle of contractual interpretation is that documents are construed objectively. In
Investors Compensation Scheme v West Bromwich Building Society [1998] 1 WLR 896, 912, Lord Hoffmann explained: