Family Law

Timothy Hanson and Mark Renouf Partners, Hanson Renouf, Jersey and Associate Members of No 5 Chambers, Birmingham.

In recent years, there appear to have been a growing number of divorce cases where an offshore trust has appeared all too conspicuously on an English court's radar and have either been dealt with or threatened by a variety of orders under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973. Two such cases, Charalambous v Charalambous [2004] EWCA Civ 1030, [2004] 2 FLR 1093 and Minwalla v Minwalla and DM Investments SA, Midfield Management SA and CI Law Trustees Ltd [2004] EWHC 2823 (Fam), [2005] 1 FLR 771 have highlighted issues relevant to trusts in the Bailiwick of Jersey, being the largest of the Channel Islands. As will be appreciated from these cases, Jersey enjoys its own legal system and there will, as a consequence, be a number of issues that arise when a Jersey trust is involved in such ancillary relief proceedings. This article examines the differing approaches of the English and Jersey courts in such circumstances and further looks at imminent changes to the Trusts (Jersey) Law 1984 that aim to increase confidence in assets held in a Jersey trust.

See September [2006] International Family Law 135 for the full article.