Wednesday, 1 October 2025
Chair
Dr. Rhonda Powell, Barrister, Kate Sheppard Chambers and Clarendon Chambers
Alienation of Property and the Supremacy of Trustee’s Discretion – Overview of Where the Court Intervenes
- The influence of settlor wishes on trustee decision-making
- How far should trustees be guided by these?
- Review of trustee decision-making by the courts - s 133
- Judicial review of Trustee decision making:
- Section 126 and 127 of the Trusts Act
- Paton v Acropolis Holdings Limited
- White v MacInnes [2024]
Presented by Theresa Donnelly, Legal Services Manager and Henry Stokes, Group General Counsel and Company Secretary, Perpetual Guardian
Learning Objectives
- Understand how settlor wishes can shape (and limit) trustee decision-making
- Identify when and how the courts may intervene under sections 126, 127, and 133 of the Trusts Act
Description
Attend and earn 1 CPD hour
* This interactive online recording includes questions and quizzes requiring critical thinking about the topics, so you have no annual limits to the number of points/hours you can claim with this format of learning. Please verify with your CPD rules
Presenters
Dr Rhonda Powell, Barrister, Kate Sheppard Chambers and Clarendon Chambers
Dr Rhonda Powell is a Christchurch barrister specialising in equity & trusts, estates, relationship property and applications under the Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act 1988. She is regularly appointed by the Family Court as Lawyer for Subject Person. Rhonda regularly appears in the Family Court and the Senior Courts and appeared for the successful party in Cooper v Pinney [2024] NZSC 181. She has experience in resolving a range of trust-related disputes both in and out of Court.
Henry Stokes, Group General Counsel and Company Secretary, Perpetual Guardian
Henry Stokes has been in private practice and acted as in-house counsel for a combined period of over 29 years. He is currently Group General Counsel & Company Secretary, for Perpetual Guardian. Henry specialises in the areas of wills, estates, trusts (both family and charitable) and protection of personal and property rights matters, including appearing in the Family Court, High Court and Court of Appeal. Henry advises on all areas from the preparation and implementation stages through to the disputes, claims and proceedings stages. He is a key member of the Group Leadership Team at Perpetual Guardian which are responsible for the strategic direction of the Group. Henry is an advocate for the trustee industry working together to provide world class trustee services to New Zealanders.
Theresa Donnelly, Legal Services Manager, Perpetual Guardian
Theresa Donnelly has a wealth of experience in elder law and trust related matters. Theresa graduated from Auckland University in 1992 and has over 30 years’ experience in private practice, government and in-house Legal. Theresa is currently the Legal Services Manager at Perpetual Guardian, and formerly Public Trust (Team Leader) and the Ministry of Social Development, where she was (lead Senior Public Law Team). She is a regular presenter and speaker for professional groups such as Legalwise, NZLS/CLE, TLANZ, CCH and other professional organisations.
