Yet another sad case reported recently shows the wisdom of appointing only those who are absolutely trustworthy and/or insured professionals as trustees over your assets.

The court heard how a trustee appointed to safeguard the assets of a 17-year-old boy helped herself to up to £2,000 a month out of the trust assets before her fraud was uncovered.

The boy's parents both died of natural causes over a short space of time and he was left a lump sum of £125,000 plus a small monthly income. They had appointed a friend as trustee and, over 30 months, half of the money left to the boy was dissipated for her own purposes.

The trustee was sent to jail for two years and three months, but lacks the assets to be able to repay the money – an order to repay £1,500 was all that the court considered feasible.