Regularizing the Trust Protector

Increasingly, settlors of trusts in on-shore jurisdictions are making use of trust protectors. Protectors serve a variety of functions but generally speaking they are appointed to provide additional security for settlors’ expectations that trusts will be administered in accordance with their intentions. Given the potential breadth and variety of functions performed and powers wielded by protectors, their use generates important and profound theoretical issues. Taking its cues from recent efforts to regularize trust protection, this essay addresses questions concerning the extension of fiduciary duties to trust protectors. Amongst other things, it questions the tenability of proposals for broad extension of fiduciary status to protectors and advocates a structured fact-based approach to fiduciary characterization of trust protection mandates