8 December 2010 - High Court sets aside discretionary trust in Maskell v Denham

The High Court has set aside a discretionary trust on the grounds that the settlor was under a mistake as to its effect. The Claimant's husband had died leaving, resulting in the Claimant becoming entitled to lump sum benefits from two pension schemes of which her husband was a member. The Claimant decided to set up a trust of the lump sum benefits, but did not appreciate that she would be irrevocably excluded as a beneficiary of the trust. The court held that as a result the Claimant was entitled to have the settlement set aside under the principle in Gibbon v Mitchell [1990] 1 WLR 1304.

Leon Sartin appeared for the Claimant and Joseph Goldsmith appeared for the Defendants.