Herman Grad 2000 Family Trust – Ontario Superior Court of Justice finds that trusts, whose Alberta-lawyer trustees did not make substantial decisions, were resident in Ontario

In finding that a family trust and a spousal trust, that had two Alberta lawyers as their trustees, were resident in Ontario, Wilton-Siegel J noted that, in the context of an investment trust, “the principal decisions taken by trustees pertain to the investment of the assets of the trust and distributions to beneficiaries,” and noted the principle that “management and control of a trust may rest with a trustee who has little investment experience provided that the trustee has the power to retain others for advice and remains the ultimate decision-maker.” He found here that the ultimate decision maker instead was the family patriarch along with the CFO of the family companies, in the absence of evidence that there was any real decision-making by the trustees in relation to the core investing function or with respect to all but perhaps one of the trust distributions.

Neal Armstrong. Summary of Herman Grad 2000 Family Trust v. Minister of Revenue, 2016 ONSC 2402 under s. 2(1).