This was co-authored by Lee-Oz Lifschitz.
Insolvency practitioners and trust creditors should take note of the recent decision of the High Court of Australia in Naaman v Jaken Properties Australia Pty Limited [2025] HCA 1 (Naaman). The central question in this case was whether a successor trustee owed a fiduciary duty to its predecessor in respect to its right of indemnity and corresponding beneficial interest in the trust assets. By a 4:3 majority (Gageler CJ, Gleeson, Jagot and Beech-Jones JJ), the High Court’s response was “no”. Given the increasing use of trading trusts in Australia and invariably, the liquidation of some of them, we distil in this article the practical implications of this decision for liquidators…