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Fellner v Cleall [2022] WTLR 1271

The claimant was the daughter of the deceased. The defendant was said to have been in a relationship with the deceased. The deceased appointed the defendant along with two others as executors of his will. He also devised a freehold commercial property and £75,000 to the defendant. The residue of the estate was to be divided equally between the claimant and her two siblings. The claimant disputed the validity of the will.

On 6 May 2021, after a chain of correspondence, the claimant’s solicitors wrote to the defendant’s solicitors on an open basis setting out various detailed points...

Fennessy v Turner & anr [2022] WTLR 1295

The claim concerned the estate of Hazel Valerie Fennessy who had died on 2 February 2020 at the age of 78. The claimant was the deceased’s son. The deceased’s other child, Heidi, predeceased her by approximately six weeks.

The deceased’s will dated 24 January 2012 left her entire estate to Heidi and appointed her as sole executrix. It provided that if Heidi predeceased then the whole estate was left to the defendant, June Turner, who was also appointed as sole executrix.

Probate was granted on 26 October 2020. The value of the estate was stated as £342,075 (gross) and £336,...

Firth & anr v Commissioners for HMRC [2022] WTLR 1297

The appeal was brought by Mr and Mrs Firth in their capacity as trustees of the L. Batley 1984 Settlement (the trust) against notices of determination issued to the trustees by HMRC on 7 September 2018, which refused Inheritance Tax (IHT) Business Property Relief (BPR) on the grounds that the interest of the trustees in the business carried on by the Lawrance (Hotel Living) Ltd (The Lawrance) consisted mainly in the holding of investments and was therefore not a qualifying business for the purposes of BPR.

On 14 November 1984 Lawrance Batley established the trust. Prior to 2012 th...

Fullard v Kershaw & ors [2022] WTLR 1323

The issue before the court was costs in proceedings relating to the estate of Richard Stephen Fullard (the testator), who died on 4 April 2020. By a will dated 20 June 2019 (the will), the testator appointed the following as executors and trustees of his will: the claimant, his son; the first defendant, his friend; the second defendant, his partner; and the third claimant, his daughter. By the will the testator also bequeathed one property to the second defendant, and another property to the claimant and third defendant. He made various pecuniary legacies, including to the first defendan...

Ingham & anr v Wardman & ors [2022] WTLR 1337

The appellants (the Inghams) appealed against an interlocutory ruling which set aside a privacy order.

In the proceedings below, the Inghams were seeking permission (the permission application) to bring a derivative claim (the derivative claim) on behalf of the estate of their grandmother, the late Elfrida Louise Chappell deceased (the deceased), on the basis that the executors of the deceased’s estate, Butterfield Trust (Bermuda) Ltd and Stephen Kempe (the executors), were unable to bring that claim due to alleged conflicts of interest. The derivative claim would allege that the ...

Laird v Simcock & ors [2022] WTLR 1351

By his will, the late Robert Simcock created a trust over the sum of £200,000, under which his wife Catherine was to be the life tenant. Subject to that, the capital and income of that trust was to be held on the terms of a discretionary trust of residue also created by the will, the objects of which were Catherine, and Robert’s children and remoter issue.

Solicitors acting for the family determined that only a portion of Robert’s estate would benefit from Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR), with the consequence that, absent an appointment from t...

Laird v Simcock & ors (costs) [2022] WTLR 1365

In an earlier judgment (p1351 of this edition), the court had dismissed the main claim seeking rectification of a deed of appointment made by the claimant and first defendant as executors and trustees of a will trust. The claimant’s position was that there should be no order as to costs, but the court should order that she be indemnified from the estate in respect of her costs. The claimant was neutral in respect of whether the court should order the defendants’ costs be paid out of the estate. The first defendant sought an order that the claimant pay her costs and submitted that the cla...

Re McEnroe [2022] WTLR 1377

This was an application to admit an altered will to probate in its current condition. The testatrix (T) died in May 2017. Her last will and testament was a homemade pre-printed will executed in May 2005. The will had a number of alterations and the probate office refused to admit it to probate without further evidence. T’s sister therefore applied ex parte for the will to be admitted to probate, and for letters of administration with the will annexed. The will was witnessed but one of the witnesses had since died and the other was no longer of sound mind so could not give evidence about ...

Re Piedmont Trust and Riviera Trust [2022] WTLR 1403

The trustees of two Jersey trusts known as the Piedmont Trust and the Riviera Trust made a Public Trustee v Cooper Category 2 type application for a ‘blessing’ of their decision to make distributions that would exhaust the funds of those trusts.

Detailed background to the trusts and of disputes that had previously arisen in relation to them was set out in Re Jasmine Trustees Ltd and Piedmont Trust [2015] (the 2015 judgment) and Re Piedmont Trust and Riviera Trust [2018] (the 2018 judgment).

The Piedmont Trust was a revocable discretionary trust established by deed in April ...

Pile v Pile [2022] WTLR 1445

The parties, who were brothers, held two periodic tenancies as joint tenants: an agricultural tenancy and a commercial tenancy of land at Fir Tree Farm protected respectively under the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986 and the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954. The appellant and a company of which he and his wife were sole directors and shareholders, F N Pile and Sons Ltd, entered into an agreement with the landlord (the agreement) under which he would serve a notice to quit the agricultural tenancy, the landlord would serve a notice to terminate the commercial tenancy in respect of which he agr...