Belgian man fights for NZ trust money

A Belgian man who was told to set up a New Zealand trust to buy an English property, despite never having lived in this country, ended up losing access to his inheritance, a New Zealand court has heard.

Erwin Verplaetse’s mother died in February 2010, leaving a €7 million estate to him as her sole heir.

The High Court at Wellington heard that when Verplaetse decided to move from Belgium to London in June 2010, he asked his mother’s trusted business adviser, Reginald Van Hulle, to help him find a place to live.

Van Hulle set up a New Zealand trust – Flanders Field Investment Ltd (Flanders Field) – for the purchase. He was the sole director of the trust while Verplaetse was the sole shareholder.

In 2016, Verplaetse found Van Hulle had been taking money from the trust. After a confrontation, Van Hulle became angry and their relationship soured.

The High Court heard evidence that Van Hulle had been moving ‘‘substantial amounts’’ of money out of the trust bank accounts and into his own companies since 2013.

In July 2018, Verplaetse removed Flanders Field as trustee and appointed Apic, a United States-based corporate trustee. To his surprise, Van Hulle’s lawyers said the business adviser had taken over the shareholding in Flanders Field, which had been transferred to his name alone.

Verplaetse claimed his signatures had been forged. Verplaetse had been trying to claw back his inheritance into his new trust, trading as Verplaetse Trust.

Verplaetse also laid complaints with Swiss authorities to prosecute Van Hulle regarding his dealings with a Swiss bank.

Justice Christine Grice said any declaration from the High Court would require enforcement in Britain and Switzerland.

Justice Grice said Verplaetse did not sign the document handing over his power to Van Hulle. She said Verplaetse did not consent to the arrangements in the agreement nor sign the share transfer.

Van Hulle was not authorised to transfer the shareholding in Flanders Field, she said.

Justice Grice reserved leave to Verplaetse to bring back the matter before the court by memorandum by June 17. She declared

Verplaetse Trust was in accordance with New Zealand law, Verplaetse was a beneficiary of that trust and that Flanders Field was trustee of the trust until its removal on July 30, 2018 and that Apic was appointed as sole trustee.

She also declared two London properties were owned by the Verplaetse Trust.

However, Justice Grice said due to privacy laws, the Swiss bank did not provide proof that Verplaetse’s inheritance had been transferred into its account so she could not declare whether he was the beneficiary of the funds held in the name of Flanders Field.