Kenig v Thomson Snell & Passmore LLP [2024] WTLR 595

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Summer 2024 #195

The claimant and his sister were beneficiaries of the will of their mother. The defendant, a solicitors’ firm, was instructed by the sole executor to administer the estate. The defendant’s original costs estimate was £10,000-£15,000 plus VAT, but its invoices totalled £54,410.99 plus VAT and expenses. The claimant challenged the fees charged and applied for an assessment under s71(3) Solicitors Act 1973, which a costs judge ordered. The defendant appealed on grounds restricted to Tim Martin Interiors Ltd v Akin Gump LLP [2011], namely, that it was not open to a benefici...

Brealey v Shepherd & Co [2022] WTLR 17

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Spring 2022 #186

The claimant applied for detailed assessment of the defendant’s costs incurred in the administration of a deceased’s estate under s71(3) of the Solicitors Act 1974.

Ann Brealey died on 15 April 2014. Her will left the claimant as the main beneficiary. It named her brother, Peter Hayward, and Robin Peter Shepherd, a solicitor, as the executors and trustees of her will. The executors instructed the defendant firm to administer the deceased’s estate. Mr Shepherd was one of the two partners in that firm. The defendant’s bills for the administration of the estate had ...