Article: The Supreme Court and the Law of Trusts and Charities

This chapter looks closely at two trust law decisions arising from the past decade of the New Zealand Supreme Court: Clayton v  Clayton [Vaughan Road Property Trust] and Attorney-General v  Family First New Zealand. On their face, these cases could not be more different. In the first, a wife wishes to access assets in a (private) discretionary trust after a relationship breakdown. The other involves a conservative organisation that advocates for the traditional family seeking (public) charitable trust status. Despite these differences — and how trust law has been traditionally conceptualised — these cases show how values may play a role in disputes involving trusts. In each case, the Court’s guidance was essential because the issues were not clearly resolved by legislation.