By Leonard Loh
Key Takeaway*: In Fereydoon Mossanen and others v Julius Baer Trust Co (Singapore) Ltd [2026] SGHC 190 (“Mossanen”), the High Court rescued a family trust by implying into a trust deed a fallback power of amendment that the deed did not contain. In the same judgment, it struck down a protector clause on the basis that it ousted the court’s jurisdiction. The court was generous in saving the trust but strict in assessing the protectors’ powers. Settlors, trustees and their advisers should take note of both approaches, and of the uncertainty the judgment creates for arbitration clauses in trust deeds.*
Summary
The Moss Trust was a Singapore-law family trust. In 2017 the settlor gave up his power of amendment by a “Deed of Renunciation and Amendment” and vested it in his wife. She declined it. The settlor, his wife and the trustee then executed a 2019 Modification. It vested the power of amendment in the trustee and also made substantive changes, including the distribution clause in dispute. A later deed in 2024 restated the trust and contained a clause allowing the protectors to resolve “any and all conflicts and ambiguities” in the trust’s administration and interpretation in their “sole and absolute discretion” (the “Protector Resolution Clause”).