Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Summer 2024 #195The claimant and his sister were beneficiaries of the will of their mother. The defendant, a solicitors’ firm, was instructed by the sole executor to administer the estate. The defendant’s original costs estimate was £10,000-£15,000 plus VAT, but its invoices totalled £54,410.99 plus VAT and expenses. The claimant challenged the fees charged and applied for an assessment under s71(3) Solicitors Act 1973, which a costs judge ordered. The defendant appealed on grounds restricted to Tim Martin Interiors Ltd v Akin Gump LLP [2011], namely, that it was not open to a benefici...
Richard Smaller and Francis Ng examine accounting on a footing of wilful default, with reference to Re Cadogan Claims for an account on a footing of wilful default are rare. HHJ Klein’s judgment in Re Cadogan, however, shows that there remain cases where the jurisdiction is relevant. This article concerns the long-running case of Re …
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Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Autumn 2020 #180The claim concerned a dispute between three siblings. Their father, Christopher Ball, had died on 26 June 1978 leaving the income of his estate in trust for his wife, Dorothy Ball, for life and the residue in the proportions one third each to the claimant and second defendant, with a further one third left to the children of the first defendant. All three siblings were appointed executors and trustees of their father’s will. Dorothy Bell died on 1 June 2016 leaving a will appointing her solicitor and accountant as executors. No grant had been obtained in respect of Dorothy’s estate due t...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Autumn 2019 #176The Claimants brought a claim as executors of the late Louis Patience, who died in April 1997. They produced accounts setting out the proposed distribution of the deceased’s estate. These accounts were opposed by the Defendants (in their capacity as beneficiaries of the estate).
At trial, HHJ Matthews found that the Defendants’ objections were misconceived, though the Claimants did fail on part of their claim. At the subsequent costs hearing, it was held that the Defendants should pay the Claimants’ costs, though as a result of the Claimants failing on one of the issues, the costs...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Spring 2019 #174This case concerned the ownership of the property and copyright interests in the bulk of the works of Lynn Chadwick (‘the Artist’), one of the leading British sculptors of his time and whose works are exhibited at leading galleries and museums around the world. He died on 25th April 2003, but his estate was not yet wound up because of a dispute. The claimants were the Artist’s executors, who brought the issues before the court but did not take an active part in the proceedings. The first defendant was a company that had been owned by the Artist and his wife (‘the Company’), which claimed...
Laura Abbott discusses legal developments that bring relief for families when someone has disappeared ‘The Guardianship (Missing Persons) Act, which received royal assent in April 2017, will provide the missing piece of the jigsaw once it comes into force.’ Probably the most famous case involving a missing person is that of Lord Lucan who, despite …
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Wills & Trusts Law Reports | March 2017 #167This is a claim relating to the estate of Medinat Bola Adepoju (the deceased) who died intestate in July 2015. The claimant is the daughter of the deceased and the defendant claimed to be a widower of the deceased.
While this was technically a probate claim, the issue between the parties in the short term was who should administer the estate. Each party feared that the other would favour themselves when administering the estate. The issue as to administration itself turned on whether the defendant and the deceased were validly married. The defendant argued that since he is the sur...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | January/February 2017 #166The claimant was the administrator of the estate of Mr Mansouri who died in 2010. He sought declarations that the two defendant companies, ACP and ACM, were the agents and fiduciaries of the deceased and that they were therefore under a duty to provide him with records in relation to transactions or other business conducted on behalf of the deceased. The deceased had been a wealthy man during his lifetime and the claimant sought to understand what had happened to his wealth.
Held:
- 1) The relationship between principal and agent can only be established by the consent...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | January/February 2017 #166The deceased was survived by his daughter (the claimant) and his son (the defendant). The deceased died in 2004 and a grant of probate was extracted in May 2007. By his will the claimant and defendant were appointed as his executors and trustees. Various issues relating to the administration of the estate arose (see para 3). Among these was a portfolio of stocks and shares given to the claimant by the deceased’s will. It was not until February 2013 that the portfolio was assented to the claimant, and then only because she assented it to herself without the defendant’s concurr...
