By 1948 there was concern that legal loopholes in the 1936 Trust Deed would allow the Inland Revenue to claim death duties when John Scott died. It was decided to reconstitute the Trust ‘in the spirit of the original agreement’ with new terms that would effectively protect the business from tax liability.
In November of that year the new members of the Trust were assembled in the Guardian’s offices on Cross Street. Five of them were beneficiaries of the 1936 Trust – four grandsons of CP Scott and the company secretary. They were each given a cheque for their share so that legally it became their personal property to do with what they wished – briefly making them millionaires in today’s terms. And then, one by one, they signed their fortunes away again and gave it all back to the Trust.
At this point the Scott family’s authority to appoint trustees was removed and the future maintenance of the Trust became a collective act.
The present Trust still operates under the Deed of 1948.
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