“To whom it may concern”: messy and imperfect handwritten declarations, the three certainties and construing settlor language in Fraser & Another v Ashdown 2025 GRC 057

Abstract In Fraser & Another v Ashdown 2025 GRC 057, the Royal Court of Guernsey considered whether a handwritten note amounted to an immediately effective declaration of trust by the settlor over his shares in a company. Holding that it did, the Court granted declaratory relief that 50% of the shares were held on the terms of the Victor Ashdown Guernsey Settlement, notwithstanding subsequent conduct inconsistent with the trust, and messy recordkeeping. The judgment clarifies how Guernsey courts approach (i) the three certainties, (ii) construction of informal settlor language using the “matrix of fact,” and (iii) apportionment where the declaration identifies the fund but not the proportions. It reiterates that once a trust is constituted, equity will not strive to defeat the gift.