Drafting Trusts and Will Trusts: A Modern Approach continues to be the main practitioner text in its field. Detailed commentary accompanies a comprehensive suite of precedents and comprises a crucial guide to drafting and understanding wills and trust documents. This fully updated 16th edition continues to benefit from a new editorial team supporting James Kessler KC.
The law continues to develop, as do perspectives on how to reflect cultural change in trust drafting. Among the important recent developments considered in this edition are Marcus v Marcus [2024] EWHC 2086 (Ch) and [2025] EWHC 1695 (Ch), and Cator v Thynn [2026] EWHC 209 (Ch) and [2026] EWHC 1045 (Ch), which have tackled questions raised by terms such as "children and remoter issue" and "grandchild" in light of contextual issues and changing social norms.
This edition also considers developments in the jurisprudence on protectors' duties, including In the Matter of B Trust [2024] CIFSd 70 and A and others v C and others [2026] UKPC 11, and on arbitration clauses, taking account of the Volpi litigation in the Bahamas.
On trustees' duties of undivided loyalty, this edition reflects the UK Supreme Court's decisions in Recovery Partners GP Ltd v Rukhadze [2025] UKSC 10 and Hotel Portfolio II UK Ltd v Stevens [2025] UKSC 28, as well as Tedford v Clarke [2025] EWHC 816 (Ch) on the importance of properly qualified drafting.
The text has also been updated to reflect the Charities Act 2022, the Finance Acts 2025 and 2026, and other recent legislative changes.
