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Benjamin order where trust instrument is lost: guidance for personal representatives distributing life assurance policy proceeds - Cook and another v No Defendant [2025] EWHC 2128 (Ch) (England and Wales)

Published on: 29 September 2025

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Cook and another v No Defendant [2025] EWHC 2128 (Ch)

What are the practical implications of this case?

A Benjamin order is traditionally granted where a legatee named in a Will cannot be located. It gives personal representatives the shelter of a judicial direction when administering the estate on specified presumptions and distributing accordingly; if those presumptions later prove wrong, the personal representatives are not personally liable. In this matter, the same safeguard was extended to personal representatives holding the proceeds of a life assurance policy settled by the deceased, yet lacking any copy of the trust deed. The alternative, which the court regarded as unsatisfactory, was to pay the fund into court. The application named no defendant and was dealt with on the papers, supported by the opinion of suitably qualified counsel, and proceeded without any hearing.

What was the background?

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