McFarlane v Jeffery Crondon Smith as administrator of the estate of Dorothy Joyce McFarlane

In the case of McFarlane v Jeffery Crondon Smith as administrator of the estate of Dorothy Joyce McFarlane, the plaintiff, Peter Donald McFarlane, sought access to certain documents from the defendant, Jeffery Crondon Smith, who was appointed as the administrator of the deceased's estate. The plaintiff aimed to invoke the court's inherent powers, specifically the inherent supervisory jurisdiction over trusts, to obtain discovery and inspection of the requested documents. The legal issues in this case revolved around the characterisation of the administrator as a trustee, the plaintiff's entitlement to access trust documents, and the court's jurisdiction to grant such access.

The court found that the defendant was not ipso facto a trustee upon his appointment as administrator. While the court acknowledged that a personal representative may be treated as a trustee for certain purposes, it was not a trustee in the strict sense. The court further held that the requested documents were not trust documents, as they predated the defendant's appointment as administrator and related to funds for which he was never the trustee. The court found that the plaintiff's application, as prosecuted, was not based on the old bill of discovery procedure or any provision in the Trustees Act, the Administration Act, or O 58 r 2 of the Rules of the Supreme Court.

In conclusion, the court refused the plaintiff's application for discovery and inspection of the requested documents, as argued. The court emphasised the importance of proceeding with caution and not acceding to the plaintiff's request on the basis it was prosecuted. The court will hear from the parties as to the form of order and costs once they have had the opportunity to consider these reasons.