Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Summer 2022 #187The defendants were the executors of the deceased’s last will dated 20 May 2009 (the 2009 will). The claimant, who was the stepdaughter of the deceased, challenged the 2009 will. There were seven issues at trial:
- (i) whether 2007 wills made by the deceased and her husband (the claimant’s father) were mutual wills such that if the 2009 will was admitted to probate, the estate needed to be administered to give effect to a constructive trust reflecting the terms of the 2007 will;
- (ii) whether there was a contract between the claimant and the deceased before the 2009 wi...
Oliver Auld and Lydia Kember examine the inherent unreliability of witness testimony based on memory Solicitors will now be under a personal obligation to avoid producing witness statements that are over-lawyered or in any way present a narrative which does not match the witness’s own recollection. There is an inherent difficulty that many challenges to …
Continue reading "Wills: Documentary evidence trumps witness testimony"
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Memory; documentary records; disputes of fact ‘HHJ Gore QC’s conclusion that it was necessary to subject the documentary record to careful scrutiny by reference to the witness evidence is consistent with both the Gestmin principles and the historical emphasis on the importance of written evidence.’ This was a clinical negligence claim involving a disputed documentary …
Continue reading "Case report: CXB v North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust [2019] EWHC 2053 (QB)"
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Alice Couriel considers the long-running proceedings in three jurisdictions in Lachaux v Lachaux and the issues addressed by the court ‘This case highlights that any jurisdictional issues should form part of any initial fact-finding exercise by practitioners.’The judgment in Lachaux v Lachaux [2017] addressed a number of interesting issues, including the status and recognition of …
Continue reading "International: A jurisdictional jigsaw"
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