Re Studdert [2020] WTLR 1097
Autumn 2020 #180The deceased died on 9 August 2017. The claimants were his personal representatives. The defendants were the trustees of the EAC Educational Trust, a charitable trust created by the deceased which was the residuary beneficiary under the deceased’s will.
The deceased was convicted in 1988 of possessing indecent images of children and in 1996 of attempting to import indecent images. In 2006 he pleaded guilty to 26 counts of possessing, making, and distributing indecent images of children. He had also had his licence to minister suspended and was prohibited from exercising any priest...
Shapton v Seviour (Costs) [2020] WTLR 1053
Autumn 2020 #180The claimant had brought a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 for reasonable financial provision from the estate of her late father, which, under the terms of his will, had passed in its entirety to the defendant.
The defendant was the deceased’s late wife. Shortly subsequent to the death of the deceased, she was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease. This had meant that she required assistance in conducting the litigation. The defendant received assistance from a former partner in a large London law firm (Alan Johnson), acting as he...
Shapton v Seviour [2020] WTLR 1047
Autumn 2020 #180The claimant was the daughter of the late Mr Colin John Seviour. The defendant was Mr Seviour’s second wife. Under the terms of Mr Seviour’s will the defendant was to take the entire estate outright. Mr Seviour died on 8 August 2016. His estate was sworn at £268,000 of which £215,000 was comprised in his share of the matrimonial home he had held under a tenancy in common together with the defendant.
In 2017 the defendant was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease. In order to retain her independence she had to have the matrimonial home modified to accommodate her needs. The defendan...
Rettendon Parish Council v Hart & ors [2020] WTLR 1029
Autumn 2020 #180On 5 December 1861 an award made under the Inclosure Act 1845 created two separate charitable trusts of plots of land within the parish of Rettendon in Essex: the Allotment for Exercise and Recreation (charity number 271480) and the Allotment for the Labouring Poor (charity number 271479).
The claimant was the local civil parish council, established by s1(1) of the Local Government Act 1894. The defendants were current or former members of the parish council. Between 2013 and 2017 a series of appointments of individual parish councillors as trustees of t...
Gibbons & anr v Smith & ors [2020] WTLR 947
Autumn 2020 #180The claim concerned two adjacent plots of land on Station Road, Hollingwood near Chesterfield, Derbyshire (Plot 1 and Plot 2, collectively the land). At some point before 1986 a Mr Mills, Mr Hartshorne and Mr Unwin had formed a club for railway workers (the association). Plot 1 was purchased by the three in 1986, the conveyance describing them as the trustees of the association and that they took the plot on trust for the association. In 1990 the same three purchased Plot 2. The conveyance again stated they were purchasing as trustees of an association, but the name of that association w...
Gardiner v Tabet & anr [2020] WTLR 931
Autumn 2020 #180By a will dated 29 May 2017 (the will), Eric Tabet (the testator) gave the whole of his estate to the claimant. The testator, who suffered from long-standing mental illness, had recently been diagnosed with a brain tumour. The will, which was in accordance with the testator’s long-held testamentary intentions, was drawn up by Mr Jamal Hammoud, his close friend for 30 years. He is said to have prepared the will in accordance with those instructions, to have read it aloud to the testator and to have witnessed his signature of it together with another friend, Mr Moshin Lakhim. The testator ...
Gandesha & anr v Gandesha & ors [2020] WTLR 905
Autumn 2020 #180The claim involved a 14-bedroomed property in London (the property) which was purchased in 1991 and held upon trust for five brothers as tenants in common in equal shares. It was intended from the outset that the property should be a home for all the brothers and their families. A declaration of trust was executed in June 2015 in order to formalise the arrangement between the brothers.
By the declaration of trust it was declared that the brothers held the property upon trust for sale with power to postpone the sale, and upon trust as to the proceeds of sale and the net rents and p...
Challen v Challen & anor [2020] WTLR 859
Autumn 2020 #180C and Richard Challen (the deceased) were in a relationship for 40 years and had two children (the defendants). Throughout that period the deceased subjected C to sustained coercive control, leaving her in an abnormal psychiatric state. On 15 August 2010 C killed the deceased with a hammer and was convicted of his murder in 2011. In February 2019 that conviction was quashed and the matter remitted for a retrial, and in June 2019 C was convicted upon a guilty plea of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility. Under the common law ‘forfeiture rule’ C was precluded from benefiting...
Caldicott & ors v Richards & anor [2020] WTLR 823
Autumn 2020 #180Mr Caldicott is the son of the late Mrs Yvonne Caldicott, who died in November 2012. He, his wife and his adult son brought a claim against his sister, Mrs Pearson, and her co-executor Mrs Walker, as trustees of a discretionary will trust declared by their mother’s will. The beneficiaries of the trust were a closed class composed of the claimants and Mrs Pearson. Mrs Pearson and her co-trustee are private client solicitors and are now both partners in a firm specialising in that field.
Under the terms of the will Mrs Pearson was given a 50% interest in a family company, Wyvern Sec...
Bowack & ors v Saxton [2020] WTLR 777
Autumn 2020 #180The claimants as respective settlor and trustees of two trusts of investment bonds sought declarations that the trusts had been completely constituted, or alternatively rectification so that such constitution has been properly made. The application was unopposed.
In 2013 the claimants (who were husband and wife) were advised by an independent financial adviser to purchase bonds issued by AXA (Isle of Man) Ltd, which on purchase would be settled on discretionary trusts for the benefit of a class of potential beneficiaries, including their only child, the defendant. The claimants we...