September 2017 - Bermuda Law Blog

15 Sep 2017

2017 Throne Speech: A Brief Summary of the Parliamentary Agenda

A new Progressive Labour Party Government signalled its intention to build “a better and fairer Bermuda” by “ensuring social mobility and removing social inequality” through economic growth when its legislative agenda for the forthcoming parliamentary year was unveiled in the Speech from the Throne delivered on the opening of Parliament on Friday the 8th of September following the party’s landslide election in July. Describing Bermuda as the most expensive country to live in 2016, the new Government announced its priorities would be: reducing the cost of living; creating more jobs for Bermudians; and growing the Bermuda economy.

13:30 / Bermuda Government / Agathe Holowatinc

01 Sep 2017

Bermuda Judgment Highlights 2017 – Trust Cases

Church Bay Trust Co. Ltd. v Her Majesty’s Attorney General for Bermuda [2017] SC (Bda) 34 Civ (1 May 2017) In this case, the Plaintiff Trustee sought rectification of a Settlement on the grounds of mistake as the terms of the Trust Deed conferred a power upon the Trustee to add and exclude beneficiaries only during the lifetime of the Settlor. The Court held that the quality of the evidence supporting the mistake was very high because it was derived from prior to the execution of the Deed and was based on communications between the Trustee and Settlor. It was clear that the Settlor did not intend the Trust property to go to charity (the ultimate beneficiary) when there were alternative persons identified by him to be added as beneficiaries. Therefore, in an effort to give effect to the true intentions of the Settlor, the application was granted to rectify the Trust Deed in the terms prayed.