Will writers drawing up trusts that go bump in the night seems to be a continuing theme…
Is it worth trying to track them down using one of the tracing agents mentioned here:
Lost Beneficiaries - Trusts Discussion - The Trusts Discussion Forum
If you can find them and they’ve lost the original documents, they may wish to pay for the costs of resolving the situation.
Any chance a copy has been sent to HMRC when the trust was established or later (for IHT entry charge/IT/CGT)?
Failing that, if nobody has a clue what the terms were, you might just have to fudge a solution that passes title to the beneficiary - ideally with buy-in from any other potential beneficiaries/heirs.
I should think there will be a Court solution but it will not be cheap and presumably you will need some indication of the actual terms to obtain any order.
Andrew Goodman
Osborne Clarke LLP