Other trustees joined as defendants to application to declare a trust void for uncertainty

Trusts – widow and daughter of deceased applied for orders setting aside a trust on the grounds that it was void for uncertainty – deceased established the trust by his will – terms of the will establishing the trust - application is brought on very limited evidence - relevant information has not made available to the Court - should the trust fail, the estate would then fall to be distributed in accordance with the rules on intestacy, since the will contains no residuary clause - obvious personal interest in the question of the validity of the trust as the persons entitled to share directly - relevant duties of trustees - avoid a conflict of interest - it is an inflexible rule of a Court of Equity that a person in a fiduciary position is not allowed to put himself in a position where his interest and his duty conflict - proper construction of the will - test of impossibility – admissibility of extrinsic evidence – deceased’s solicitor, also an executor and trustee may be in a position to provide some relevant extrinsic evidence - inappropriate that the involvement of other trustees in these proceedings should be limited to the provision by each of a bare statement that he does not object to the grant of an Order setting aside the trust - supervisory jurisdiction of the High Court - each of the trustees to apprise the Court of the steps that he or she has taken to date both to become acquainted with the nature of the trust and to carry out the deceased’s directions - procedural issues - Rules of the Superior Courts - need for an appropriate legitimus contradictor - different classes of beneficiary may have different interests necessitating separate representation on an issue of construction - improper to issue proceedings impugning the validity of a trust in a non-trustee capacity without joining the other trustees of the relevant property or estate - in the absence of any legitimus contradictor, it is difficult to see how the Court could permit the proceedings as presently constituted to proceed - ordered that the other trustees be joined or added as defendants to these proceedings in the capacity of each as trustee of the trust at issue - necessary to enable the Court effectually or completely to adjudicate upon and settle the questions involved in the present proceedings.