A related issue that has been the subject of many years of debate is whether the holder of an appointor role can exercise it so as to appoint themselves.
For many years, the case of Re Skeats' Settlement (1889) 42 Ch D 522 has been seen as the leading decision, and it confirmed that an appointor could not appoint themselves as trustee. In particular the case held that '...the universal rule is that a man should not be judge in his own case; that he should not decide that he is the best possible person, and say that he ought to be the trustee'.
This blanket prohibition has however been iterated over the years and, subject always to the provisions of the relevant trust deed, the position now appears to be that the trustee appointment power is a species of special ‘fiduciary power’ that must be exercised for the benefit of objects of the trust.
This means that an appointor may appoint themselves (or a company they control) as trustee of a trust, as long as it is not for fraudulent purposes and permitted under the deed.
An appointor choosing to appoint themselves as trustee will however only by permitted in ‘exceptional circumstances’, where the court is assured that the trusts will be executed in the interests of the beneficiaries.
The decision in Australian Conservation Services v Liladel Holdings [2017] ACTSC 162, provides a concise summary of the rules in this area.
As usual, please contact me if you would like access to any of the content mentioned in this post.
** for the trainspotters, 'Sisters are doin' it for themselves' is a song from 1985 by the band the Eurythmics, listen hear (sic) -