Trustee discretion, the general duty of care, and the limits of judicial review: Perpetual Trust Ltd v Cooke [2026] NZCA 349 (31 July 2026)

Abstract In Perpetual Trust Ltd v Cooke the New Zealand Court of Appeal considered, for the first time at appellate level, how the general duty of care in s 29 of the Trusts Act 2019 (NZ) relates to the principle of non-intervention in discretionary trustee decisions. The Court held that s 29 is not a vehicle for a merits review. It governs how a trustee implements a discretionary decision, not whether the decision was the best available. Applying the established grounds of intervention, it reversed findings of breach of trust as to one property and upheld them as to another.