A series of recent decisions of the Supreme Court of Victoria in Fahey v Bird1 highlights:
- the importance for executors and trustees to keep adequate and accurate financial records of their administration of estates and trusts respectively;
- executors have a positive duty to respond to beneficiaries’ requests for information; and
- the dire consequences that might ensue when such duties are breached.
In this article, Marcus Schivo reflects on the various judgments which considered the behaviour of the executor and more particularly the breaches which resulted in him being jailed.