Where wealth is held in a complex international trust structure with underlying asset holding companies, and a dispute arises out of e.g. a ‘monumental’ event such as death or loss of capacity by the wealth creator, if the overarching trust instrument was drafted using a standard form precedent, i.e. is not bespoke, or has not been reviewed periodically, mediation of the dispute is an opportunity to re-draft the instrument on terms that a court could not direct, i.e. as the end product of doing a ‘deal’ in settlement of the dispute at mediation. Where parties and their legal and tax representatives are located in different time zones, while some parties will be participating late into the night, or early in the morning, a Zoom mediation may be effective, particularly if the distance between participants has the advantage of avoiding face to face venting in a highly acrimonious dispute, as participants are not physically in the same room. In fact they do not have to meet and can stay in their own Zoom break-out rooms throughout the mediation, which is not uncommon in domestic mediations.
I am developing the outline of a six hour course to present by Zoom from May 2022 provisionally entitled,
‘Mediation of Probate, Inheritance Act, and Trust Disputes – A Toolkit for Mediators and Participants’, and would be interested to hear generally what your experience of Zoom mediations has been throughout the pandemic. To contact me please send an email to carl@ihtbar.com. See also Chapter 12 of my book, the ‘Contentious Trusts Handbook’ published by the Law Society in July 2020:
Wildy & Sons Ltd — The World’s Legal Bookshop Search Results for isbn: ‘9781784461249’
As a practising Barrister and Author, I specialise in Contentious Probate, Inheritance Act, and Trust Disputes, and as a Certified Mediator, can be appointed to act as either a solo or co-mediator in a Zoom mediation about a dispute anywhere in the world, including the following trust law jurisdictions: Australia; Bahamas; Bermuda; BVI; Canada; Cayman; China (http://www.china.org.cn/china/LegislationsForm2001-2010/2011-02/12/content_21907980.htm); Dubai; Guernsey; Gibraltar; India; Jersey; Malaysia; New Zealand; Northern Ireland; Pakistan; Republic of Cyprus; San Marino (The Court for Trusts and Fiduciary Relations – Corte Trust) (i.e. for trusts holding art, cultural heritage, and luxury assets located in Italy); and the United States.
For more information about the Mediation of Contentious Probate and Trust Dispute services I provide, please visit: Mediator – Contentious Probate, Inheritance Act, & Trust Disputes – Carl Islam
For my recent blogs including:
Advocacy & Experts | Carl’s Wealth Planning Blog
Art of persuasion in court | Carl’s Wealth Planning Blog
Beddoe Applications | Carl’s Wealth Planning Blog
Liability for costs in a Contentious Probate case | Carl’s Wealth Planning Blog
Mediation of Will, Inheritance, Probate, and Trust disputes | Carl’s Wealth Planning Blog
Recent advocacy testimonial | Carl’s Wealth Planning Blog
Testamentary Capacity claims | Carl’s Wealth Planning Blog
The psychology of advocacy | Carl’s Wealth Planning Blog
please visit: Carl’s Wealth Planning Blog | by Carl Islam LL.M (Exon)