Re McKeen [2013] EWHC 3639 (Ch)
April 2014 #138The main action was a contentious probate dispute in which the defendant, who was the younger sister of the deceased, sought to overturn all of his five wills on the grounds of lack of testamentary capacity. The deceased had suffered from severe schizophrenia throughout his lifetime. The claimants were the residuary legatees of his final will, entitling them to the lion-share of the deceased’s considerable estate. In his main judgment, the judge accepted that the deceased’s condition was severe. He acknowledged that this placed the burden of proof on the claimants to establis...
Page & anr v Hewetts [2013] EWHC 2845 (Ch)
April 2014 #138The claimants were the administrators of their parents’ estates and they had engaged the defendants (a firm of solicitors and one of the firm’s legal executives) to advise them in the administration. The claimants commenced proceedings against the defendants for breach of duty and dishonestly procuring a secret profit in relation to the sale of the principal asset of the estate. Believing the matter to be time barred, the defendants made an application for summary judgment. The court allowed this application and dismissed the claims on the basis of expiration of the limitatio...
The Vegetarian Society v Scott [2013] EWHC 4097 (Ch)
April 2014 #138This was a contentious probate action against all five of the wills of a schizophrenic testator. While he had benefitted from a stable and conventional childhood, the deceased had sustained serious injuries at the age of nineteen in a serious bicycle accident. He soon after succumbed to the symptoms of severe schizophrenia and logical thought disorder, from which he suffered for the remainder of his lifetime. His modes of living were unconventional. He lived alone on the fringes of society, and despite his considerable wealth, he lived in basic, if not squalid conditions. While it was ac...
Bentine v Bentine [2013] EWHC 3098 (Ch)
March 2014 #137This appeal concerned the one-fifths rule contained in s70 of the Solicitors Act 1974. That rule provides that if a solicitor’s costs bill is reduced by more than one-fifth at detailed assessment, the costs of that assessment will be borne by that solicitor. If there are special circumstances, the rule may be disapplied under s70 (10) of the Act.
The original action was a claim issued in the Central London County Court by a mother against her daughter, Miss Bentine, for the court to determine their respective equitable interests in certai...
Holden-Hindley & ors v Holden-Hindley & anr [2013] EWHC 3053 (Ch)
March 2014 #137The trustees of two family settlements applied to the court for authorisation of action that they proposed to take. David Holden-Hindley created the No 7 Settlement in 1973 for the benefit of his children, issue, his sister-in-law and her children and his sister Doreen Hindley and her children and issue. His brother Airlie set up a similar trust the No 9 Settlement in 1975 but only his children and those of his sister Doreen were beneficiaries. In both settlements illegitimate children were excluded.
In 1983 two deeds of appointments were made under the two settlements for the ben...
Petterson v Ross & ors [2013] EWHC 2724 (Ch)
March 2014 #137Mrs Ross, the testatrix, (T) had three adult children, the defendants: Diana (D), Lorenzo (L) and Gianni (G). T died on 13 July 2008 leaving a will dated 21 October 1988 (the will). At her death T held the following assets:
- a) 13 Kensington Gardens, Ferryhill, County Durham (13KG) where D had lived until she moved in with her partner. At T’s death the property was worth £125,000 but subject to a mortgage with £50,401.52 outstanding. 13KG was bequeathed to D ‘free from any mortgage or legal charge to which the same may be subject at the date of my death’. T...
Re English & American Insurance Co Ltd; Re the Trustee Act 1925 HC13C02801
January/February 2014 #136This was an application by the trustees of a trust arrangement forming part of Schemes of Arrangement following the insolvency of English & American Insurance Company Ltd (EAIC). The trustees were unable to make distributions to the vast majority of beneficiaries under the trust owing to the existence of a small subset of beneficiaries who potentially had rights under the fund. Accordingly the trustees made an application under s57 of the Trustee Act 1925 for power to apportion the trust fund or alternatively for power to make interim distributions either under the court’s...
Re Frost; Kloosman v Aylen & ors [2013] EWHC 435 (Ch)
January/February 2014 #136Richard Frost (the deceased) died on 4 March 2008. He left a will, dated 26 September 2007, which distributed his estate as to one-third to each of his daughters, Linda Aylen and Susan Frost, one-sixth to his estranged son Andrew Frost and one-twelfth to each of Andrew’s children. At the time of making his will the deceased had no concept of how much his house was worth and he had no intention of selling it, although he had been living with Linda and her family since April 2007.
In November 2007 the deceased’s house was sold and he received net proceeds of £353,480. T...
Sylvester v Sylvester HC11C00458
January/February 2014 #136The deceased was born in Carriacou on 20 July 1925. She married her husband in 1953. He moved to London for work in the 1950s. She joined him in 1957. She died in London on 18 February 2008 aged 82, leaving a will dated 7 October 2007. The court had to decide whether she was domiciled in Carriacou or London at the date of her death in order to establish if it had jurisdiction to entertain a claim by the claimant pursuant to the Inheritance Act 1975 for reasonable financial provision out of the estate. The issue of domicile was ordered to be tried as a preliminary issue by an ord...
Wise v Jimenez & anr HC12CO0367
January/February 2014 #136In 2007 the defendant Mr Jimenez (J) became involved in the development of a golf course in France and gathered together a number of investors including the claimant Mr Wise (W), then a close friend of his, who provided £500,000 to invest in the project. The money was procured by means of a loan from Coutts and Co of £350,000 together with funds from two other accounts held by W. It was transferred to the account of a dormant company, the second defendant, CD Investments Ltd (CDI) set up by W and now in liquidation, and hence to an account with HiFX in J’s name in the form of €...