King v Attorney General for New South Wales [2020] NSWSC 629

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: King v Attorney General for New South Wales [2020] NSWSC 629 Hearing dates: In Chambers and on the papers Date of orders: 27 May 2020 Decision date: 27 May 2020 Jurisdiction: Equity Before: Hallen J Decision: The Court:

1. Declares that, upon the true construction of the Will dated 1 September 2014 of Robert Kay Bassingthwaighte ("the deceased") the gift of property in Clause 3 constitutes a valid charitable trust.

2. Declares that the original purposes of the said charitable trust (identified by reference to Clauses 4, 5, 6 and 7 of the deceased's Will) have, since they were laid down, ceased to provide a suitable and effective method of using the trust property, having regard to the spirit of the trust.

3. Orders that the trust property be applied cy-près.

4. Orders that the following scheme be settled for that purpose:

(a) The funds to be held on the trust herein are the balance of the assets of the estate of Robert Kay Bassingthwaighte, after deduction of all fees and expenses incurred in obtaining the approval of the Supreme Court of New South Wales to this cy-près scheme, together with all reinvested funds ("the trust fund").

(b) The Trustee shall be the University of Sydney.

(c) The trust fund shall be invested and managed by the Trustee on a perpetually endowed basis in accordance with the University of Sydney policy from time to time with respect to the investment and management of capital preserved trust funds.

(d) The Trustee shall apply the annual allocation from the trust fund to grant scholarships or fellowships named the Robert Bassingthwaighte Scholarship or the Robert Bassingthwaighte Fellowship to support research and study at the University of Sydney on religion or religious experience as related to aesthetics, creativity and the arts.