Re Cooper Street Property Trust

In the Supreme Court of Victoria, the case of Re Cooper Street Property Trust involved the trustees of a property trust that had been established under a trust deed. The trust deed appointed a company as the initial trustee, but this company was later deregistered and the appointor declared bankrupt. The trustee in bankruptcy subsequently applied to the court to appoint a new trustee for the trust, citing the welfare of the beneficiaries as a paramount concern. The Commonwealth intervened in the proceedings, seeking to be appointed as the trustee for the trust. The central legal issues before the court were whether the Commonwealth could be appointed as trustee and whether the applicant had standing to apply for the appointment of a new trustee.

The court considered whether the deregistration of the company trustee and the bankruptcy of the appointor had rendered the original appointment of the trustee ineffective. It was established that the deregistration of the company trustee did not automatically result in the termination of the trust, but rather left the trust in a state of vacancy. The court then assessed the standing of the applicant, determining whether they were a person beneficially interested in the property of the trust. The court found that the applicant, as the trustee in bankruptcy of the appointor, had standing to apply for the appointment of a new trustee for the welfare of the beneficiaries. The court also considered whether the Commonwealth could be appointed as trustee, finding that the Commonwealth was eligible to be appointed under the Trustee Act 1958, s 48, as well as the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), ss 601AD and 601AE.

After considering all the evidence and legal principles, the court determined that the Commonwealth should be appointed as the trustee of the Cooper Street Property Trust, given the vacancy in the trusteeship and the welfare of the beneficiaries. The court found that the applicant had standing to apply for the appointment of a new trustee, as they were a person beneficially interested in the property of the trust. The final orders of the court were that the Commonwealth be appointed as the trustee of the Cooper Street Property Trust and that the applicant’s application be dismissed.