Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Winter 2023 #193The appellant solicitor applied under s50 Administration of Justice Act 1985 to remove his co-executor, the deceased’s widow. At a hearing before Bacon J the parties agreed by consent that both executors should be removed and replaced with an independent administrator, but could not agree on costs. The judge gave directions for written submissions to be exchanged, after which a decision was made on the papers without a hearing. The appellant was ordered to pay personally the respondent’s costs on the standard basis (with the balance paid out of the estate) and was deprived of hi...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Autumn 2023 #192Mr Kudlick, a chartered accountant and the defendant, was a trustee of the Marian Miller Settlement from 1973 and was later an executor and trustee of the estates of Marian Miller’s late parents, Harold Miller, who died on 29 December 1984, and Ethel Miller, who died on 26 December 1987. With his co-executor Mr Levy, Mr Kudlick was responsible as executor for the administration of the estates of the late Harold and Ethel Miller. He and Mr Levy were trustees of three trusts, the property of which comprised one-quarter of Harold’s and one quarter of Ethel’s residuary estates, together with...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Winter 2022 #189The deceased had issued proceedings in 1991 against the defendants for personal injury arising from exposure to asbestos. Liability was admitted and in October 1993 the High Court made an order for damages (accompanied by a statement of agreed facts), which included a provisional damages order (PDO) under s32A Senior Courts Act 1981 in the following terms:
‘The Plaintiff do have leave to apply (without time limit) for further damages pursuant to Order 37 Rule 10 if he does develop the aforesaid conditions or diseases or any of them.’
...
Claims for the removal of executors or administrators are commonplace and mishandling them can result in a hefty bill for the defendant. James McKean reports The PR(s) in both cases were heavily criticised for filing extensive evidence before conceding – or even while conceding – the claim. In the recent cases of Fellner v Cleall [2021] and Fullard …
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Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Autumn 2021 #184A testatrix (T) left the residue of her estate (the trust fund) on trust to be divided into four equal shares, directing that one of them (the share fund) be held upon discretionary trusts for the benefit of her son, B, and his children and remoter issue. The other three shares were given to her other three children absolutely. The will trustees (who were the executrix of T’s will and another person appointed by her as a co-trustee) sought the approval of the court for a proposed appointment of all of the liquid funds in the share fund to B absolutely. The judge refused to approve the pr...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Winter 2020 #181The deceased purchased a property in Weston-super-Mare (the Weston property) in his sole name in 2002 with the aid of a mortgage loan. He met the defendant in early 2010 and by the end of the year the defendant had moved into the Weston property with the deceased and it became his main residence. The defendant undertook repair and decoration jobs around the property, including repairing the boiler and decorating the main bedroom, and undertook work for others in return for work on the property by them. The general outgoings for the property and for the lifestyle of the deceased and the d...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | 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...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Summer 2018 #172.This case concerned the burial arrangements of Liam McManus (Liam), who
took his life aged just 15. Liam had a difficult upbringing. His parents
were heroin addicts and so he was brought up by his maternal grandparents
in Liverpool until he entered foster care aged 5. Two years later he moved in
with the claimant, Mr Burrows, (who was Liam’s paternal uncle) and his family in St Helens and a full residence order was made in favour of the claimant
and his wife. Mr and Mrs Burrows were described as his psychological
parents.
In the year before he died, Liam made contact with h...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Summer 2018 #172A member of the company died in 2006, leaving his shares by his will to be held on trust. In 2007 the first petitioner and one other executor and trustee took out a grant. In 2014 the second executor and trustee was replaced by an order under s.50 Administration of Justice Act 1985.
By a deed dated 14 July 2015 the replacement executor and trustee himself retired as trustee and was replaced by the second petitioner. That deed did not expressly vest any assets in the new trustee, nor was there any evidence before the court that the deceased’s shares had been vested in the ...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | October 2016 #163In June 2010, Michael Wood admitted to under-declarations of income tax for the years 2002-03 to 2007-08 amounting to £743,424 and made a payment of tax of £352,983. This was made with a view to taking advantage of an HMRC disclosure opportunity for medical professionals called the ‘Tax Health Plan’, with a fixed tax geared penalty of 10% of the amount of tax under-declared. HMRC argued that the disclosure fell within the Tax Health Plan and opened a Code of Practice 9 investigation into his affairs. Michael Wood agreed to provide a disclosure report (the disclosure report) into his affa...
