Court asserts authority of testator over trust distribution

Trustees have no discretion

- By Mzwandile kaBizokwakhe

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has affirmed the primacy of a testator’s wishes in determining how trust assets should be distributed, dismissing an appeal by trustees who sought to exercise their own discretion over the distribution of a multi-million-rand family trust.

The dispute centred on The Schoonies Family Trust, established in 2006 by the now late Johannes Bernardus Alphonsus Schoonhoven. The legal battle pitted the trustees his three sons on one side and one on the other over who had the final say in designating the capital beneficiaries upon the trust’s termination.

"Capital beneficiaries" refers to who or what receives the founding assets of the trust.

The three trustees approached the courts seeking an order that gave them the authority to select who among the individuals in the list of poten-

Judge said that the testator’s wishes on trust assets were clear in the Schoonies Family Trust case

tial beneficiaries would receive the trust capital.