SINGAPORE Law and Practice Contributed by: Sim Bock Eng, Josephine Choo, Aw Wen Ni and Vincent Ho, WongPartnership LLP
5.2 Mechanism for Compensation The remedies available to the aggrieved party in wealth disputes depend on the cause of action on which the aggrieved party relies for their claim. In addition to the contractual or tortious claims that result mainly in damages to compensate the aggrieved party for their loss, claims in equity may provide other remedies to the aggrieved party, such as the ability to require a fiduciary to account for profits and tracing of trust assets to their current forms. In Lavrentios Lavrentiadis v Dextra Partners Pte Ltd and Bernhard Wilhelm Rudolf Weber [2020] SGHC 146, the plaintiff succeeded in his claim against the defendants for breach of fiduciary duties, and the Singapore High Court accordingly ordered that the defendants account for various unauthorised pay - ments made by them. In Ivanishvili, Bidzina and others v Credit Suisse Trust Limited [2023] SGHC(I) 9, the court held that the defence of contributory negligence on the part of the settlor is not applicable in a claim for breach of a trus - tee’s duty, and that the trustee was liable to the sett - lor for the difference between what would have been achieved if the whole portfolio had been removed and managed by a competent, professional trustee and the trust assets were not affected by fraud, and what was actually achieved. 6. Roles and Responsibilities of Fiduciaries 6.1 Prevalence of Corporate Fiduciaries There are currently 67 corporate fiduciaries (ie, profes - sional trustees) licensed in Singapore. While they are subject to the same standard of conduct as individual trustees, the use of corporate fiduciaries is becom - ing increasingly popular in the succession and wealth planning arena. High net worth individuals take com - fort in the fact that corporate fiduciaries are licensed by MAS and are subject to the supervision and audit of MAS. There is also an increasing trend for high net worth families to set up their own private trust com - panies to act as trustees for the family trusts.
whether the settlor had the mental capacity to set up the trust; • in Chee Mu Lin Muriel v Chee Ka Lin Caroline [2014] 4 SLR 373, the dispute was between the children of the testatrix, regarding whether she had the requisite mental capacity when she executed her will; • in Kuntjoro Wibawa v Harianty Wibawa and others [2016] SGHC 109, the dispute was between the settlor and her son, regarding whether the assets that the settlor settled into the trust belonged to her; and • in Ernest Ferdinand Perez De La Sala v Compañia De Navegación Palomar, SA [2018] 1 SLR 894, the dispute concerned a trust arrangement for the De La Sala family’s business interests and assets, with a key issue being whether a sole beneficiary had any beneficial rights that could be directly enforce - able against the trust property whilst the trust remained in place. Other family disputes involving trust law issues arise from estate administration (eg, Chng Bee Kheng and another v Chng Eng Chye [2013] 2 SLR 715, which concerned estate property allegedly held in a sham trust) or testamentary trusts (eg, Lakshmi Pratapai Bhojwani v Moti Harkishindas Bhojwani [2019] 3 SLR 356, which concerned an executor’s and trustee’s duty to the beneficiaries under discretionary trusts). Professionally Set-Up/Administered Trusts There has also been litigation in respect of trusts that were set up and administered professionally. For example: • in Ivanishvili, Bidzina and others v Credit Suisse Trust Limited [2023] SGHC(I) 9, the Singapore International Commercial Court found that Credit Suisse Trust Limited, a professional trustee, was liable for losses caused by the breach of its duty to safeguard the trust assets; and • in Zhang Lan v La Dolce Vita Fine Dining Co Ltd [2023] SGHC(A) 22, the Appellate Division of the High Court permitted a creditor of the settlor to enforce against assets that were purportedly held under a trust established by the settlor and admin- istered by a professional trustee.
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