Periodic advance payments by a corporate trustee of a discretionary trust, when recorded in the books of account and paid to or for the benefit of beneficiaries, constitute irrevocable distributions under the trust deed and cannot be retrospectively varied. A standing policy of making back-to-back payments to beneficiary contractors does not constitute a determination under a discretionary trust deed; such a significant departure from usual discretionary trust practice should not be readily inferred without clear and unequivocal expression of intent. Liquidators of a corporate trustee that operated at least to a significant extent as trustee of a trading trust are entitled to indemnification from trust assets for costs and expenses of the winding up, and may also rely on the salvage principle and the Re Berkeley Applegate equitable allowance principle for costs relating to bare trust assets.
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