Was there an automatic resulting trust HKR Middle East Architects Engineering LC v English?
In my previous post, I discussed the unjust enrichment claim that was at least partially successful in in HKR Middle East Architects Engineering LC v English (No 1) [2019] IEHC 306 (10 May 2019); (No 2) [2021] IEHC 142 (3 March 2021); (No 3) [2021] IEHC 376 (31 May 2021). In this post, I want briefly to discuss a trust point that was not taken in the case that may have availed HKRME. In HKR v English (No 3) [2}, McDonald J recorded that, in the first stage of the case, HKRME claimed
…… that the monies transferred from HKRME to the BVI entity [Sunvit] were held on trust for the children of Mr Ryan under a trust known as the Ryan Children’s Trust (“the RCT”). For reasons which are explained in the principal judgment, I came to the conclusion that, at least insofar as it purported to relate to the monies transferred to the BVI entity, the alleged trust was a sham and that the intended beneficiary of the transfers (subject to the unpaid liabilities of HKRME) was not any such trust but was instead Mr Ryan himself who had put the relevant arrangements in place with a view to concealing assets from his creditors.