STEP Journal reported in October 2014 that a wife failed to get tiger charity included in divorce settlement. The article read “A charitable trust set up by a husband and wife to protect rare Chinese tigers was never intended to provide a future income for the couple and should not be considered in the wife’s financial remedy application, the England and Wales High Court has ruled”.
According to the article: “The couple, Stuart Bray and Li Quan, married in 2001. Even before then they had become dedicated to the cause of tiger conservation. They established a UK-based charity called Save China’s Tigers in 2000, and in 2002 set up a Mauritius trust called Chinese Tigers South Africa Trust (CTSAT), largely funded by Bray. For the next 12 years they spent much of their time working together for the cause, with the support of the Beijing government. Part of the effort was the setting up in South Africa of a breeding environment for Chinese tigers loaned to them by the Beijing government.” Read the full article here.
Since the court ruling, Li Quan appealed. The Appeal court confirmed that the tiger charity assets are excluded from the Bray divorce settlement. STEP Journal reported on this on 19 June 2017. According to Claire Blakemore, a partner at law firm Withers, the decision is a relief to charities and families with trusts. Blakemore said “Had the court decided the other way, trusts would have become susceptible to attack in unprecedented ways, and families, charities and their advisors would have had to fundamentally rethink their approach”.
Read the full article in STEP UK News
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