Wills & Trusts Law Reports | October 2012 #123Mrs Elizabeth Longman (D) died on 18 April 2008, leaving the residue of her estate equally to six charities if they were in existence at the date of her death. One of the six was the International Bible Society (UK) (IBS). When the will was made, IBS was an unincorporated association, but it had incorporated in May 2007 by transferring all its assets to a new charitable company, IBS-STL Ltd. Clause 6.3 of D’s will (see para [2] of the judgment below) provided that if one or more of the named charities merged or ceased to exist her trustees could pay its share of the residue to a...
Anna Bruce-Smith sets out the lessons to be learned from Wharton v Bancroft ‘Mr Justice Norris went out of his way to commend counsel for keeping the number of witnesses to a minimum by weeding out the periphery testimonies, in particular those who seemed keen only to air their grievances against either White Horse or …
Continue reading "Wills: Focus first"
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Michael Waterworth analyses a case that has lessons for those litigating over the validity of wills ‘In the course of the trial in the case of Mrs Blofield it emerged that one view of the facts – a view favoured by the judge – was that she had used her will to encourage Mr Cranfield …
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The consequences of omitting key questions when taking will instructions are clear in Robinson, as Martyn Frost reports ‘Did the client compartmentalise her thinking and consider the Canadian and Spanish wills to be completely unrelated matters each being unaffected by the other?’ The recent Canadian case Robinson Estate v Robinson [2011] deals with a problem …
Continue reading "Wills: It’s good to talk"
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Charles Holbech reviews the importance of a medical opinion for the aged or infirm testator ‘Even though the golden rule may not, on close examination, be a golden rule, it does not follow that solicitors would be to safe to disregard it: they should be aware of the risk of a negligence claim should they …
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Chris Walton explains why a review of online assets is an essential part of the will-making process ‘Many individuals overlook their digital assets and online profiles when making wills, perhaps because they are not so tangible as property or finance.’ Just ten years ago, the way in which we used the internet was very different. …
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Barrett v Bem sets an unusual precedent as Emily Exton explains ‘There was, in Vos J’s view, no question that Mr Lavin had wanted to make a will and had wanted Mrs Liston to inherit.’After a seven-year legal battle the will of Martin Lavin has recently been upheld by the court, in Barrett v Bem …
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Fiona Campbell-White assesses whether we are still at liberty to leave our property to whomever we choose, however irrational ‘A testator can be unreasonable when making their will, provided that they are not deluded at the same time. Similarly, a will can be irrational, provided that the testator is capable of making a rational, fair …
Continue reading "Wills: The right to spite"
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Sian Hodgson outlines a case that clarifies the standard of proof required to ‘prove’ a missing will ‘Given the nature of the claim, there was very little by way of documentary evidence and the court therefore had to take a view very much based on witness evidence.’It is generally accepted that, as a matter of …
Continue reading "Wills: Good Will Hunting"
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Nadia Cowdrey sets out the lessons to be learned from Beard v Shadler, in which the intention behind the whole will was analysed to avoid a partial intestacy ‘ Beard provides a good illustration of the need to consider the will, read as a whole, when matters of construction arise and that the outcome of …
Continue reading "Wills: An extension of words"
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