Roadchef (Employee Benefits Trustees) Ltd v Hill & ors [2014] EWHC 3109 (Ch)

March 2015 #147

The claimant was an Employee Benefit Trust (EBT) created by a company as part of a scheme to encourage employee share ownership. The mechanics of the scheme were that the EBT borrowed funds from a bank which it used to purchase shares in the company, with the loan being secured by a charge on the shares and guaranteed by the company. A separate share participation scheme (SPS), financed through funds provided by the company, purchased shares from the EBT which it then transferred to beneficiaries of the scheme (being employees of the company) in accordance with directions provided by the...

Kevern v Ayres & anr [2014] EWHC 165 (Ch)

April 2014 #138

Raymond Ayres deceased died intestate on 4 June 2008. The claimant is the deceased’s sister and the first defendant his wife.

As the deceased left no issue, his estate devolved according to the intestacy rules. Accordingly, his chattels and a statutory legacy of £200,000 went to the first defendant absolutely and the remainder of his estate was divided equally between the claimant and first defendant.

In these circumstances, the first defendant intimated a claim for reasonable financial provision from the deceased’s estate. Given the potential for post-death i...

Re Longman (dec’d) [2012] EWHC 666 (Ch)

October 2012 #123

Mrs Elizabeth Longman (D) died on 18 April 2008, leaving the residue of her estate equally to six charities if they were in existence at the date of her death. One of the six was the International Bible Society (UK) (IBS). When the will was made, IBS was an unincorporated association, but it had incorporated in May 2007 by transferring all its assets to a new charitable company, IBS-STL Ltd. Clause 6.3 of D’s will (see para [2] of the judgment below) provided that if one or more of the named charities merged or ceased to exist her trustees could pay its share of the residue to a...