Oliver Marre successful in trust rescission case

Oliver Marre has been successful in obtaining an order rescinding a trust which held part of a valuable multinational business in the case of Chipperfield v DC Studio Limited.

The Claimant put his shareholding in a German operating company into trust as part of a corporate re-structuring on the basis of incomplete and inaccurate advice as to the capital gains tax and income tax consequences of the transaction.  Master Shuman found that the transfer into trust was void on the grounds of mistake.  Applying the law as stated in Futter v Futter, Pitt v Holt [2013] UKSC 26, the Master accepted that this amounted to a causative mistake going to the core of the transaction, of sufficient gravity to set aside the trust.

The adverse tax consequences for the Claimant flowed from the fact that he retained an interest in the settlement, although the income beneficiary was a UK holding company. The case also dealt with complex issues around German withholding tax on dividends and double taxation; and the Master held that there was no public policy reason to decline the order in the circumstances.

Oliver was instructed by Penningtons Manches Cooper.