Wills & Trusts Law Reports | November 2016 #164Michael and Philip Noble were brothers who built up a substantial property empire known as the Noble Organisation. It had a complex ownership and management structure involving a number of companies and partnerships and certain trusts for the benefit of their respective families. Michael died in 2006. The executors were Philip, his widow Gillian, and John Barnsley (an accountant associated with PricewaterhouseCoopers). There was a demerger of the business side and property side of the Noble Organisation with Philip taking the business assets and Gill taking the property assets. This was ...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | November 2016 #164Tegwyn and Mary Davies purchased a dairy farm known as Henllan in West Wales in 1972. It comprised a farmhouse, an attached cottage, outbuildings, and 182 acres of land. It was farmed with a nearby farm also owned by them known as Caeremlyn which they had purchased in 1961 (together ‘the farm’). The respondent, Eirian was one of their three daughters. By 1989, she was the only child left at the farm. She had a passionate interest in pedigree milking cows which was the main business of the farm, and it was by this stage clear that she was the only possible candidate to take it over. In th...
John Dickinson and Natasha Dzameh look at the circumstances in which a disposition to an executor constitutes an absolute gift ‘Mr Justice Newey therefore concluded that the will constituted an absolute gift to the executor and there was no impermissible delegation of the deceased’s testamentary powers.’ Practitioners contending with wills and probate matters are fully …
Continue reading "Wills: At your disposal?"
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Lydia Pilati considers the lessons to be learned from Brennan v Prior [2015] on contesting the validity of a will ‘Brennan highlights that although the burden of proof is upon the party seeking to propound the will, it is not simply enough to propound a will on due execution and capacity when the suspicion of …
Continue reading "Wills: A textbook claim"
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Clarke v Brothwood [2007] indicates the circumstances in which ‘clerical error’ allows rectification. Siân Hodgson reports ‘Rectification may be possible under s20, but the court will need to see evidence as to the nature of the error, how it arose and what the testator’s true intentions were.’ Until 1983 there was no power to rectify …
Continue reading "Wills: For the record"
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Wills & Trusts Law Reports | March 2016 #157The claimant sought by way of summary judgment a declaration as to the true construction of a will or alternatively an order for rectification of the will pursuant to s20(1) of the Administration of Justice Act 1982.
The deceased died on 20 July 2011. His will took the form of a letter addressed to a solicitor. Both parties accepted that the document was a will and had been admitted to probate. One of the executors obtained a grant of probate on 23 August 2012.
The will contained a bequest in the following terms: ‘My property 87 Loma Del Rey, Alcadesa, Spa...
Wills & Trusts Law Reports | September 2015 #152Mr Butcher was born on 4 October 1939. He lived alone in a bungalow at 42 Russell Road, Enfield, London. He had no surviving parents and no children. He was close to his only sibling, Yvonne Butcher, with whom he lived. She died in 2002. Mr Butcher died on 5 May 2013 aged 73. He left a net estate worth £482,295.00. He was in good physical and mental health at the time of his death.
It was likely that in 1991 Mr Butcher had made a will which left his estate to Yvonne. In 2003, he made a new will following her death (‘the 2003 will’). He did so without the involvement of any profess...
Araba Taylor examines Re Butcher [2015], a case that puts the principles of Gill v Woodall into practice ‘The single test comes into its own where the court has enough facts, expert opinions and other evidence to enable it to make findings as to how the will was prepared and/or executed.’ Before the CA decision …
Continue reading "Wills: One step, two step…"
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The Woodland Trust v Loring [2014] demonstrates the importance of determining the testator’s exact intentions. Marilyn McKeever explains ‘As most practitioners do not possess a fully functioning crystal ball it would be prudent to discuss with a testator what their intentions are in general terms in order to understand the “purposes and values” intended to …
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Wills & Trusts Law Reports | April 2015 #148Elizabeth Jane Walker (Mrs Walker) was born on 25 March 1956. She married John Walker in 1981, and with him she had two daughters, Jennifer and Alison. In 2007, she left her husband and began to live with Michael Badmin (Mr Badmin).
On 20 June 2009, Mrs Walker was diagnosed with a terminal, malignant brain tumour. Following the prescription of medication, she began to suffer from symptoms of psychosis. However, her condition gradually improved, and she was discharged from hospital on 20 July 2009. Mrs Walker’s health begun to deteriorate in Autumn 2009. By October, she was bed-bou...
