As per the title, there is no trust deed available for a previous settlement into a life office offshore bond. The life office don’t have a copy and no other party can locate one.
There is a third party who is noted by the life office as ‘Protector’ and the protector’s assumption is that they can write a note stating what the trust said. My gut feel is that there is no trust without a deed, even if the life office has details of the trustees and the protector.
Can anyone tell me if there is a scenario available to avoid invalidating the original trust?
The working assumption should be that there is a trust but you do not know its terms. That does not invalidate the trust. Did the issuer have a standard trust template with a protector at the time it was issued? That would be my starting point.
You cannot get rid of a trust merely by losing the trust deed. That would lead widespread abuse.
If there was a trust established by a trust deed, then you need to do your best to determine what the terms of the trust are. If the “Protector” can, at least, summarise the terms of the trust and all involved consider that that summary is likely, reasonable and acceptable to all concerned, then I suggest that the Protector makes a statutory declaration to that effect for future reference and the trustees (?=the Protector) could proceed on that basis.
I wonder whether you might be able to obtain a copy of the standard form trust precedent which the life insurance company in question used to issue at the time the bond was entered into. Maybe if the life company itself and “the internet” cannot help, you could perhaps post on TDF the approximate date of the deed, the jurisdiction involved (you mentioned it was an “offshore” bond - perhaps IoM?) and, possibly, the type of trust, and see if any forum members happen to recall having something matching that description which they could copy and redact for you - you could then compare that to what the Protector recalls.
You know the terms of the trust so you should be okay. There is no particular magic in the original (albeit it does open doors with compliance officers).
Andrew Goodman
Osborne Clarke LLP
There is no difference if you have only a photocopy of the completed trust deed, except that you have a very good idea of what the terms of the trust were. You should still make enquiries to ascertain whether anyone concerned thinks that the trust might have been wound up or amended in any way. A stat dec or even an application to court for confirmation of the terms of the trust might be appropriate, depending on the precise circumstances (especially, re the latter, if there is any disagreement).