Topic: Proprietary Estoppel

Williams v Seals & ors [2014] EWHC 3708 (Ch)

The deceased, Mr Seals, (D) committed suicide on 10 December 2013. He was depressed following his wife’s death from cancer in August 2010. However, the mental health team who saw him in September and November 2012 did not identify any major disordering mental illness. After his wife’s death D renewed a childhood friendship with the applicant Mrs Williams (B) and letters he wrote to her suggested a considerable degree of emotional dependence upon her. On 12 May 2011 he made a will using B’s solicitors and appointed her his executrix. He left her all his property and assets. At the same ti...

Wright v Waters & anr [2014] EWHC 3614 (Ch)

The claimant was Patricia Wright who made a claim against the estate of her mother Mary Waters. Mrs Waters died on 29 December 2010 leaving an estate worth £138,000.

Mrs Waters had two children – Patricia and David. Patricia (a widow) has one child Victoria and two grandchildren. Patricia suffers from numerous medical conditions and is wheelchair bound. Her outgoings exceed her income.

David married Susan and has four children.

Mrs Waters made a will in January 2009 leaving legacies of £5000 to each of David’s children, £7,000 between her sister-in-law and a niece an...

Southwell v Blackburn [2014] EWCA Civ 1347

In 2002, the appellant and the respondent set up home together in a house in Droitwich. They remained unmarried. The property was purchased in the appellant’s sole name with his money alone, and he took on sole responsibility for the mortgage. On the breakdown of their relationship, the respondent claimed that the appellant held the property was held by him on constructive trust for both parties in equal shares. That claim failed before His Honour Judge Pearce-Higgins QC, but her alternative proprietary estoppel claim succeeded. The respondent was awarded £28,500 in satisfaction of the e...

Creasey & anr v Sole & ors [2013] EWHC 1410 (Ch)

The claimants were the executors of the late Constance Jenkins (M), and, by representation, the executors of the late Kenneth Jenkins (F). F died on 21 October 1995 and M died on 15 January 2005. The defendants, F and M’s children, disputed the devolution of their parents’ estates and the court’s direction was sought.

F and M had owned a farmhouse and land extending to some 210 acres on the Isle of Wight as beneficial tenants in common (Ashey). F and M owned other land, in some cases jointly and in others cases individually. One such further holding consisted of 26 acres, known as...

Re Wilson (dec’d) [2013] EWHC 499 (Ch)

The testatrix Iris Wilson (Iris) made a will dated 31 August 2010 and died on 6 October 2010. Her will appointed the first defendant Mr Phythian as the sole executor and left her personal effects and the residue of her estate to the second defendant Mrs Phythian and the property known as North Lodge in Yalding Kent in equal shares to Mr and Mrs Phythian.

Mrs Lynda Turner (the claimant) the niece of Iris challenged the will on three grounds:

• Lack of proper execution.
• Lack of mental capacity.
• Lack of knowledge and approval of the contents of the will.<...

Clarke v Meadus [2010] EWHC 3117 (Ch)

Mrs Clarke was the daughter of Mrs Meadus and Mr R Meadus, who owned a property known as Bonavista as joint tenants. Mr Meadus died in March 1995. Mrs Clarke alleged that prior to his death Mr Meadus expressed that he wanted Bonavista to remain in the family after he and his wife were dead. They wanted Mrs Clarke to live with Mrs Meadus, at Bonavista, for the remainder of her life and she would have Bonavista on Mrs Meadus’s death. Mrs Meadus asked Mrs Clarke and her husband to move in, which they did in September 1995, after allegedly receiving repeated promises that Mrs Meadus would le...

Bradbury & ors v Taylor & anr [2012] EWCA Civ 1208

William Samuel Taylor (deceased) and his late wife lived in a large property, set in 15 acres of grounds, called Lower Manaton (property), near Callington in Cornwall. The deceased made a will in 1998 by which the defendants, who were his nephew and niece, were to be allowed to occupy the property for seven years after his death, on stated terms and conditions. At the same stage in late 2000 the deceased proposed that the defendants, who lived in Sheffield, should move to Cornwall and occupy part of the property with their two children. The first defendant favoured the idea; the second d...

Suggitt v Suggitt & anr [2012] EWCA Civ 1140

Frank Edward Suggitt (Frank) died on 25 October 2009 leaving his entire estate (400 acres of farmland and several house) to his daughter Caroline. John, Frank’s son, was left nothing. Frank’s will, executed in 1997, expressed the wish (without creating a trust) that if at any time, in the opinion of Caroline, John showed himself capable of working and managing the farmland, that Caroline would transfer it to John.

The Suggitts had farmed in North Yorkshire for many generations. John was the youngest and only son. He had attended agricultural college at Frank’s expense, but left be...

Hanson v HMRC [2012] UKFTT 95 (TC)

Joseph Nicholas Hanson (the appellant) appealed against a notice of determination dated 3 October 2005 that had determined that a farmhouse occupied by the appellant as his home at 11 The Green, Great Horwood, Milton Keynes (the house) was not agricultural property for the purposes of inheritance tax relief. HMRC’s position was that the required nexus between a farm building and agricultural land was common ownership and common occupation. The appellant submitted that the required nexus was common occupation only. It was further submitted by the appellant that his father, Joseph Ch...