Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Key definition

Rule in Hastings-Bass definition

What does Rule in Hastings-Bass mean? In trust practice, the Rule in Hastings-Bass describes court intervention to set aside or unwind a trustee’s discretionary decision where the trustee failed to take relevant matters into account, took irrelevant matters into account, and would not have acted as they did but for that error. It is a case-law doctrine, refined in England and Wales by the Supreme Court in Pitt v Holt; Futter v HMRC: relief depends on a breach of fiduciary duty in the decision‑making process, not merely an adverse outcome (including tax). Reliance on apparently competent professional advice will often preclude relief; alternatives may...

The Hastings-Bass rule after Pitt v Holt: setting aside trustee decisions, excessive execution v inadequate deliberation, exoneration clauses, recent tax avoidance cases, and comparative developments

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Practice notes

STOP PRESS: Abolition of non-dom regime and introduction of residence-based IHT regime

The Finance Act 2025 (FA 2025), which obtained Royal Assent on 20 March 2025, ends the remittance basis of taxation and introduces a residence-based system from 6 April 2025. FA 2025 also replaces domicile as the principal factor for determining liability to inheritance tax.

Other updates include:

Changes to the rules that determine excluded property status
Abolition of protected settlements status for offshore trusts
Amendments to overseas workday relief

For details on these measures, see Practice Notes: The abolition of the remittance basis of taxation from 2025–26 and A new residence-based regime for IHT from 2025–26. See also: Finance Bill Tracking Service: Key dates (Finance Bill 2025) and Finance Act 2025.

When a trustee errs, remember there are several potential remedies: Rectification, the doctrine of Mistake, and the so‑called rule in Hastings‑Bass (Rule). This Practice Note explores the Rule, under which the court has Set aside decisions of family trustees where the trustee’s decision‑making was materially flawed. For information on rectification and mistake, see Practice...

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Web page updated on 27/05/2026

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