This Practice Note outlines Bermuda trust law in general terms and highlights its unique features such as its broad reserved powers legislation, its statutory Hastings Bass provisions, and its flexible provisions on perpetuities. Bermuda’s trust legislation Bermuda’s primary trust legislation consists of: • the Trustee Act 1975 (TA 1975) which deals with (among other things) trustee powers, entitlements and duties and supervisory powers of the Bermuda courts in the trusts context • the Trusts (Special Provisions) Act 1989 (TSPA 1989) which contains Bermuda’s wide reserved powers provisions, its firewall provisions and its provisions on purpose trusts • the Perpetuities and Accumulations Act 2009 (Bermuda) (PA 2009) which provides that trusts established on or after 1 August 2009 may have an unlimited duration insofar as they do not hold Bermuda land and provides for the disapplication of the rule against perpetuities to earlier trusts, and • the Trusts (Regulation of Trust Business) Act 2001 which provides for the licensing of persons carrying on trust business in Bermuda. Who can serve as trustee? There is no

Loan market and developments Please provide a brief overview of the current state of the loan markets in your jurisdiction and any significant recent market developments. As of the latest assessment, Moody's outlook on Bermuda’s banking sector remains ‘stable’ and is driven by the contingent liability risk from the island's large banking sector. Moody reported that Bermuda's very strong institutional framework, very high per capita income, and strong external position are underlying credit strengths that bolster Bermuda's capacity to absorb potential future shocks. Bermuda’s financial services regulator, the Bermuda Monetary Authority, has reported that, as at September 2024, the capital adequacy levels at Bermuda’s banks were well above the minimum regulatory requirements under Basel III, with the sector’s risk asset ratio at 25.6%, the common equity tier 1 capital ratio at 24.2% and the leverage ratio at 7.7%. Please provide a brief overview of forthcoming changes to the law or other matters that may affect the loan markets or the responses to the questions below. There are no anticipated significant

Private Client analysis: There is no doctrine preventing trustees from exercising their powers so as to alter the underlying character, or substratum, of a trust. The Global Resource Trust (GRT) made an appointment which (i) added a new beneficiary, the Wang Family Trust (WFT), to the trust, (ii) excluded all the other beneficiaries, and (iii) transferred the whole of the trust to WFT. The earlier beneficiaries said the deed was invalid, and brought a summary judgment application, on the grounds that the appointment changed the underlying character or ‘substratum’ of the trust and so was invalid. The Bermudan Court of Appeal rejected the application, deciding that there was no doctrine preventing trustees from altering the underlying character, or substratum, of a trust and that it was arguable that the appointment was not invalid pursuant to the doctrine of fraud on a power. Written by Richard Dew, barrister at Ten Old Square.

The European Commission has announced that the Standing Committee of the Bern Convention has voted in favour of the EU's proposal to change the protection status of wolves from 'strictly protected' to 'protected'. This change, effective from 7 March 2025, will allow the EU to adapt the annexes of Directive 92/43/EEC (the Habitats Directive) accordingly. The Commission plans to propose a targeted legislative amendment, which will require approval from the European Parliament and Council of the EU. While offering Member States more flexibility in managing wolf populations, the species will remain protected, necessitating continued conservation measures to maintain favourable conservation status.

The ‘Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, 9 September 1886 (the Berne Convention)’ is an international agreement that provides for copyright exceptions to the reproduction right in certain special cases. Article 9 of the Berne Convention contains the so called Berne three-step test: ‘It shall be a matter for legislation in the countries of the Union to permit the reproduction of such works in certain special cases (step 1), provided that such reproduction does not conflict with a normal exploitation of the work (step 2) and does not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the author (step 3).’ Later international agreements have applied the three-step test to rights other than the reproduction right.

See Practice Note: Section 40 information requests which provides that in the case of a landlord, in order for a section 40(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954) notice to be valid it must be served within the last two years of the term or within two years of the date on which the lease could have been brought to an end by the landlord by giving notice to quit—see LTA 1954, ss

Standard imposed in pollution control regulation to avoid or reduce emissions from installations or processes, without prescribing the use of one specific technology.

The Loan Market Association and European Leveraged Finance Association published a guide in November 2020 (updated in 2021) entitled Best Practice Guide for Term Sheet Completeness, for use on leveraged finance transactions. The aim of the Best Practice Guide is to assist investors in the investment decision by ensuring that leveraged finance term sheets contain as much detail as possible as to key terms. To this end, the Best Practice Guide sets out a list of those provisions identified by investors as being of material importance to their investment decision. The Best Practice Guide presupposes a high level of understanding of leveraged finance terms and jargon. The Best Practice Guide lists the terms that should be included, and under each term sets out a bullet point list of the various points that the term sheet should cover in relation to that particular term. This Practice Note lists out the terms referred to in the Best Practice Guide and, under the heading Provision, the related points it suggests are fully set out, along

The duty on local authorities not to dispose of land (other than for a short tenancy) without consent from the Secretary of State unless for the best consideration reasonably obtainable (see Local Government Act 1972, s 123).

The terms 'best endeavours', 'reasonable endeavours' and the variations 'all reasonable endeavours', 'commercially reasonable endeavours' or 'reasonably commercial endeavours' and 'utmost endeavours' are frequently used in drafting commercial agreements and may be the result of considerable negotiation and often represent a compromise.

A rule that requires asset managers working for pension funds to get the best price they can when they buy or sell for a client.

Best interests (of the child) describes the overarching welfare test used by courts, tribunals and public authorities when making decisions affecting children, including disputes about residence and contact, care proceedings, adoption, medical treatment and relocation. It requires decision‑makers to treat the child’s welfare as the central, and often paramount, consideration, and to assess what outcome will best promote the child’s overall wellbeing, safety, development and rights in the particular circumstances. In England and Wales, the concept is framed by the “paramountcy principle” in the Children Act 1989, supported by a statutory welfare checklist and extensive case law. Northern Ireland adopts a similar approach under the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995. In Scotland, the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 and subsequent legislation require the child’s welfare to be the court’s paramount consideration, informed by views of the child where practicable. In Ireland, the best interests of the child are constitutionally protected and elaborated in the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 and the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964, as amended. Across all jurisdictions, the assessment is holistic, child‑specific and fact‑sensitive, rather than a fixed formula or checklist alone.