Without access to accounts and information, beneficiaries cannot hold trustees to account at all — which is why the law treats disclosure as central to the trust relationship while still protecting trustee decision-making. This chapter starts with the foundations: the information beneficiaries can generally expect, who may apply to court, and the duty to keep proper accounts, including the consequences when records are missing and a loss is alleged. It then examines the modern view of the right to disclosure as a matter of the court's supervision rather than absolute entitlement, the distinction between trust documents and deliberative documents, and the factors the court weighs in exercising its discretion — including where breach of trust or bad faith is credibly alleged. Finally it covers the limits and protections, from clauses purporting to oust disclosure altogether, to letters of wishes, to the trustees' ability to refuse unreasonable or repetitive requests.
