In Order 85 of Rules of High Court, ‘administration action’ means an action for the administration, under the direction of the court, of the estate of a deceased person or the execution, under the direction of the court, of a trust.
Order 85 deals with actions for the administration of the estate of a deceased person, for the execution of a trust, for the determination of any question arising in the course of administration or in connection with a trust and cognate matters.
An action may be brought for the determination of any question in an administration action and a claim need not be made in the action for the administration or execution in connection with which the question arises or the relief is sought.
The reliefs include :
(a)    an order requiring an executor, administrator or trustee to furnish and, if necessary, verify accounts;
(b)   an order requiring the payment into court of money held by a person in his capacity as executor, administrator or trustee;
(c)    an order directing a person to do or abstain from doing a particular act in his capacity as executor, administrator or trustee;
(d)   an order approving any sale, purchase, compromise or other transaction by a person in his capacity as executor, administrator or trustee;
(e)    an order directing any act to be done in the administration of the estate of a deceased person or in the execution of a trust which the Court could order to be done if the estate or trust were being administered or executed, as the case may be, under the direction of the Court.
In exercising its jurisdiction to give directions on a trustee’s application, the court is essentially engaged solely in determining what ought to be done in the best interests of the trust estate and not in determining the rights of adversarial parties.
Hong Kong Cases
In the case of CACV 34/2012, concerning the estate of Mong Man Wai, the executors sought the direction of the Court on the disclosure of documents and information related to a trust set up by the deceased.
In the case of HCMP 202/2013, the executrix sought an order approving and / or authorizing the sale of various undistributed real properties belonging to the estates and the distribution of the net proceeds of sale to the beneficiaries in equal shares; and various prohibitory and mandatory injunctive reliefs against two beneficiaries in respect of income derived from those undistributed real properties belonging to the estates.