Wills & Trusts Law Reports | July/August 2015 #151MC was born on 8 October 1937. Her husband died in 2004. She had two children: a son (NC) and a daughter (SR) aged 54 and 49 respectively.
On 12 June 2009, MC executed a lasting power of attorney (LPA) for property and affairs appointing NC and SR jointly and severally as her attorneys. The LPA was registered on 24 September 2009.
In October 2011, MC made a will leaving 95% of her estate to SR and the remaining 5% to NC. In March 2013, SR placed MC’s house on the market. NC suspected that SR was mismanaging MC’s affairs and on 22 April 2013 entered a restriction...
Christine Cooper examines a case which highlights the preferred approach of the court when considering the variable wishes of those without mental capacity ‘Money was being withdrawn from GW’s bank account at a time when he did not have the capacity to manage his financial affairs.’ This article examines the approach of the Court of …
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Wills & Trusts Law Reports | December 2014 #145GW was diagnosed with late onset Alzheimer’s dementia in 2009. He had lost contact with his sons who apparently live in Australia and only had contact with one niece, CM. GW was sectioned under the Mental Health Act 1983 three times and was hospitalised in January 2013 before ultimately being placed in a residential care home. Whilst still in hospital, a safeguarding alert was raised by nursing staff for financial exploitation on the basis of disclosures made by GW about his finances, which suggested that his niece, CM, was withdrawing monies from his bank account without ...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | November 2014 #144ZYN was seriously disabled and was reliant on community care services, part of which was provided by Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council (the council). She had substantial capital assets, amounting to around £550,000 deriving from compensation paid in settlement of a personal injury claim. This case concerned the statutory exceptions to the general government policy that those with assets are required to contribute to the cost of services to the cost of services they receive from a local authority.
The council had sought to charge ZYN for the full cost of social care services whi...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | September 2014 #142Mr Jones, the property and affairs deputy for Gladys Meek, asked for the court to authorise a statutory will leaving everything between National Trust for Scotland and a charity connected with the Christadelphian Church. He also asked for an order calling in the £275,000 security bond against her two former deputies, Mrs Miller and Mrs Johnson, and a direction as to whether he should refer the conduct of the two former deputies to the police.
Mrs Meek was born in 1919, widowed in 1961 and predeceased by her only child Barbara in 2010. Both her husband and Barbara died intestate an...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | April 2014 #138This is an appeal from a judgment of Baker J [2010] EWHC 3385 (Fam) making an award of costs at the conclusion of long-running proceedings in the Court of Protection. The costs related to an interim hearing lasting eight days from January through to March, and, following judgment on 26 March 2010 ([2010] EWHC 621 (Fam)), a further hearing on 6 May 2010. In respect of costs, the judge said:
‘In all the circumstances, I conclude that this is a case for departing from the general rule set out in r157 of the Court of Protection Rules, and I make an order in the follo...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | January/February 2013 #126
A previous order of the court had invited any parties seeking costs to lodge written submissions. Family members and the professional deputy submitted that their costs should be charged to Mrs Clarke’s estate.
Michael Clarke (the son of Mrs Clarke) wanted this decision postponed and an order for disclosure and for production of further accounts of the deputy and OPG.
Held (allowing the costs to be charged):
- (1) There was no basis for departure from the general rule.
- (2) Michael Clarke’s application was refused.
Lynne Bradey considers the test for capacity It is a sad fact that in many personal injury cases, particularly those involving the most catastrophic injuries, the injured person will lose the capacity to deal with their own affairs. Where that is the case, the majority of injured people will lack the capacity to appoint an …
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Wills & Trusts Law Reports | April 2012 #118In 2001 the patient, J, received a settlement of £2,090,000 damages in respect of cerebral palsy suffered as a result of complications at the time of his birth in 1991. Of this, £1,611,222 was attributable to his future care needs. J is an only child. His father was born in 1959 and his mother in 1962. He lives with them in a house bought in October 2000 for £349,950 from an interim payment that is held by his parents and Mr Smyth (S), his receiver (now the deputy) as his trustees. Its current value is estimated at £675,000. J’s life expectancy was originally assessed in 1998 as la...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | March 2012 #117The applicants (R and J) made a wasted costs application against the respondent solicitors (H) in the context of proceedings known as D v R (Deputy of S) and S [2010] EWHC 2405 (CoP), which had been heard by Henderson J in the Court of Protection concerning S. R was S’s daughter and his deputy. She had brought proceedings in the Chancery Division in S’s name to recover property S had given away to D on the basis of undue influence. S’s wish was that D should retain the property given to her. In that context, D applied for a declaration from the Court of Protection that ...
