Hendry v Hendry & ors [2020] WTLR 175
Spring 2020 #178The claimant, who was born in the Philippines, married Michael Frederick Hendry (the deceased) on 31 October 2003. He was 20 years older and already had three adult children. They entered into a pre-nuptial agreement which provided that in the event of the marriage failing the claimant would receive a lump sum of £10,000 and a one-way flight to the Philippines. In the event, they separated on 24 June 2016. The deceased made a will on 6 August 2016 dividing his residuary estate equally between the first and second defendants and appointing the third defendant as executor. The claimant pet...
Estera & anr v Singh & ors [2020] WTLR 127
Spring 2020 #178The Petitioners brought an unfair prejudice petition against the First Respondent in respect of their management of the Fourth Respondent (the Company). Following a liability trial, the First Respondents and the Company were ordered to purchase the Petitioners’ shares in the Company at a price to be determined. A quantum trial followed in which the purchase price was determined and an initial sum to be paid on account of the full price within 28 days, with the balance to be paid within 6 months. The wording of the order was left to the parties.
A purchase from the First Petitioner...
Barnaby & anr v Johnson [2020] WTLR 67
Spring 2020 #178Mrs Maudlin Bascoe (T) died on 29 August 2015. Cs sought to prove a will dated 27 April 2005 (the 2005 will) naming them as executors. C1 was T’s son. C2 was T’s former solicitor and the draftsman of her wills from 1988 2005. D was T’s daughter. T also had two other children – a son, G, (who pre-deceased her) and a daughter, B (who died after T in 2017).
Under the 2005 will, D received a legacy of £100. There was an earlier will dated 25 October 1992 (the 1992 will) leaving D a legacy of £10,000 the validity of which D did not dispute at trial.
D challenged the 2005 will, a...
AB v CD & ors [2019] WTLR 1083
Winter 2019 #177AB was a professional trustee of two discretionary trusts created by the late parents of D1, a Will Trust for the benefit of their issue, and a Grandchildren ‘s Trust for the benefit of their grandchildren (i.e. the four children of D1 and D3, and the two children of D1 ‘s late sister). D1, D2 and D3 were between them the other trustees of the trusts.
Three of the children of D1 and D3 had already received shares of the Grandchildren ‘s Trust, but the other three grandchildren had not. Another trust fund, comprising the proceeds of sale of a property intended by the settlors for D...
ABC & ors v KJL [2019] WTLR 1101
Winter 2019 #177The claimants were the trustees of a number of trusts relating to an English estate, including a fund created by an appointment in 1978 (the T fund). The claim was for rectification or alternatively rescission of a deed of appointment made in 2010 relating to a sub-fund of the T fund. The defendant was the beneficiary of the relevant sub-fund. He did not oppose the claim. HMRC were aware of the proceedings but chose not to take part other than to request that certain authorities be considered by the court.
In 1930, the settlor had settled property on a strict settlement which incl...
Dawson-Damer & ors v Taylor Wessing LLP & ors [2019] WTLR 1111
Winter 2019 #177The claimants are beneficiaries of a number of Bahamian trusts; Taylor Wessing LLP (TW) act as the solicitors for the trustees of a number of these trusts.
On 14 August 2014, the claimant served a subject access request (SAR) on TW, requesting disclosure of the personal data relating to them held by TW as the solicitors for the trustees They were unsatisfied by the disclosure provided to them by TW, and brought proceedings under s7(9) of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA 1998).
The matter came before the Court of Appeal ([2017] 1 WLR 3255), which ...
Payne & anr v Tyler & anr [2019] WTLR 1221
Winter 2019 #177By his will the deceased, who died in November 2010, left his estate as to one half to his widow. She, by a deed of variation complying with s142 Inheritance Tax Act 1984 ( ‘IHTA ‘) ,varied the will in order to settle her half share on a discretionary trust of which the beneficiaries were herself, her children and remoter issue. The trust included a power of appointment in favour of the beneficiaries.
In 2012, the widow was in need of additional income. The trustees proposed making an appointment to the widow giving her an irrevocable life interest in the trust f...
Rittson-Thomas & ors v Oxfordshire County Council [2019] WTLR 1285
Winter 2019 #177In 1914 and 1928 Mr Robert Fleming conveyed land to the Defendant for use as part of a school pursuant to the School Sites Act 1841 ‘to be applied as a part of the playground of the said School and for no other purpose whatever ‘. The interest in any land subject to reverter vested in the claimant beneficiaries.
In 2006 the defendant relocated the school to new premises and marketed the old premises for sale. One parcel including part of the site gifted in 1914 was sold in 2007. The defendant maintained that it intended to apply the proceeds of the sale of the former scho...
Rogge & anr v Rogge & ors [2019] WTLR 1305
Winter 2019 #177The first and second claimants had four children, three of whom were the defendants. The third defendant suffered a serious brain injury while playing polo and was left unable to walk unaided. The first and second claimants purchased two contiguous flats in London, one for themselves and the other for the third defendant. They also sought a house in the countryside which would serve both as a retirement home for themselves and as a place for their children and potential future grandchildren to visit, with an area designed to meet the needs of the third defendant. In February 2011 they id...
Scarle v Scarle [2019] WTLR 1369
Winter 2019 #177A husband and his wife were both found dead at their home in October 2016. Both were found to have died of hypothermia, and the wife‘s body in a more advanced state of decomposition. They left jointly-owned property which fell to be distributed differently depending on which of them died first. The parties were the executors of their respective estates.
s184 Law of Property Act 1925 provides as follows: “In all cases where… two or more persons have died in circumstances rendering it uncertain which of them survived the other or others, such deaths shall (subject to any or...