› Administration in accordance with propounded deed
Evidence
› Secondary evidence
› Proof of contents of lost document under s 48 Evidence Act 2008 (Vic)
Quick Take
1Where a trust deed is lost, a trustee may prove the contents of the original deed by tendering an unsigned copy supported by circumstantial evidence — including contemporaneous corporate records, financial statements, tax returns, correspondence referencing the original, and evidence from the solicitor who drafted the deed — assessed on the balance of probabilities under s 140 of the Evidence Act 2008 (Vic).
2To obtain judicial advice to administer a trust in accordance with a propounded deed that is not the original, the applicant must establish three matters: that a trust exists, that the original trust deed is lost, and that the terms of the propounded deed are the terms of the trust to the requisite standard of proof.
3Exhaustive but unsuccessful searches of all reasonable repositories — including former solicitors, accountants, financial institutions, ASIC, the ATO and the SRO — are sufficient to establish that an original trust deed has been lost.
