<i>In the Matter of the O Trust</i> [2025] CIGC FSD 1 and 56

Abstract In the Matter of the O Trust [2025] CIGC FSD 1 and 56 concerned the courses of action open to a trustee who holds an express power to resign but the sole lifetime beneficiary of the trust will not constructively engage in the appointment of a successor—or in resolving their own complaints about trust administration. The trustee applied to the Cayman Islands Grand Court (per Kawaley J.) for directions, which necessarily involved considering (1) the proper course for the trustee concerning ongoing trust administration given the predicament it faced and (2), in that context, whether the Court could pass the trustee’s accounts and determine the basis for approving its ongoing fees, costs and expenses. This analysis examines the Court’s reasoning and in particular the practical implications of the bespoke “held before the Court” regime approved in this case under principles the Judge aptly described as “not ‘run of the mill’ under Cayman trusts law.”