Dunbabin & ors v Dunbabin [2022] WTLR 917
Autumn 2022 #188Angela and John Dunbabin purchased a property known as 29 Beverley Place, Springfield, Milton Keynes (the property) in 1983. The conveyance was silent as to the beneficial interests though it contained a declaration that either of the purchasers could give a valid receipt for capital money arising on a disposition of land. With the assistance of Terry Oldfield, a professional will writer, they executed ‘mirror’ wills giving their own share of the property to trustees upon trust for sale and to hold the net rents and profits and the net income from the sale proceeds in trust for the other...
Dunbabin & ors v Dunbabin (costs) [2022] WTLR 935
Autumn 2022 #188On 10 February 2022 judgment was delivered on a claim brought under Part 8 of the Civil Procedure Rules in relation to issues which had arisen in the administration of the estates of Angela and John Dunbabin. The main issue related to the question whether they had severed their beneficial joint tenancy, so as to hold the legal title to their residence upon trust for themselves as tenants in common in equal shares, with the result that on the death of Angela her half share devolved according to the terms of her will instead of passing automatically by survivorship to John. The claimants s...
Gavriel & anr v Davis [2022] WTLR 943
Autumn 2022 #188The claimants were the only beneficiaries of the estate of the deceased, who died in May 2016. The defendant executor in December 2016 obtained probate of the deceased’s will, which did not authorise remuneration of executors or trustees. Upon completion of the administration, the defendant sought to impose a charge of £27,300 for her time in administering the estate.
The claimants brought proceedings under CPR 64 seeking directions as to whether the defendant was entitled to remuneration. In her evidence in response, the defendant asserted an oral agreement with the claimants tha...
Harley v Harley [2022] WTLR 953
Autumn 2022 #188The pursuer was the son of the deceased who had not been provided for in his father’s will. The defender was the widow and remaining executrix-nominate of the deceased. The pursuer obtained a legal rights calculation from the defender’s solicitors in the sum of £227,542.24 and averred this was finalised save for professional fees to be calculated by an independent auditor of court and law accountant. The calculation was based in the main on an ‘in house’ valuation of shares held by the deceased in Alexander Harley Seeds Ltd, which made no provision for a minority shareholder discount, bu...
Hudson v Hathway [2022] WTLR 973
Autumn 2022 #188The parties had started a relationship in 1990. Mr Hudson had moved into Ms Hathway’s home and become joint owner. They did not marry and had two sons. The home was sold and another bought in joint names. In 2007 they purchased Picnic House with a mortgage. It was again purchased in joint names with no declaration of trusts. They separated in 2009, with Ms Hathway staying at Picnic House. The mortgage was converted to an interest-only mortgage. It continued to be paid from a joint account into which both of their salaries had been paid.
In July and August 2013 there was an exchang...
Hughes v Pritchard & ors [2022] WTLR 993
Autumn 2022 #188The testator owned substantial real estate, including two plots of farmland and a cottage. He had three children. His son Elfed began working on the farmland from a young age and in 1999 acquired neighbouring farmland which he farmed together with the testator’s land. In due course Elfed brought his own son to work with him on the farm.
The testator had made his testamentary intentions clear for some time, namely that his son Gareth and daughter Carys (the appellant and first respondent respectively) should inherit shares in a family company and Elfed should inherit the farmland k...
Jennison & anr v Jennison [2022] WTLR 1027
Autumn 2022 #188The claimant at first instance was the widow of the deceased and the personal representative of his estate. The defendants were the deceased’s brother and sister-in-law. The claimant sought declaratory relief, an order for sale and compensation flowing from the defendants’ alleged breach of trust in dealing with land. The defendants defended the claim on the basis of a lack of standing as the claim form had been issued before the foreign grant of probate was resealed in the UK. The defendants appealed the refusal to grant them summary judgment or strike out on this basis.
Held (dismi...Orb A.R.L & ors v Ruhan & ors [2022] WTLR 1049
Autumn 2022 #188The case concerned various agreements (including a sale purchase agreement, a headstay agreement and an alleged oral agreement) transacted between the claimants and the defendant (among others) in connection with a business venture. It was alleged that the oral agreement obliged the defendant to redevelop, restructure, manage and/or dispose of assets within a hotel portfolio in order to maximise the financial benefit realised from such assets, and then to pay a share of the net financial benefit from such activity to the claimants. The true intention behind the oral agreement was a matte...
Pangou v Nzoulou [2022] WTLR 1093
Autumn 2022 #188The deceased died intestate in England at the age of 45. The defendant was his partner who was pregnant with his third child. The claimant was one of his children from a previous relationship. Both wished to dispose of his body. The claimant wished to bury the body in France (where two of the deceased’s six children, his two sisters, his mother, and other family members lived). The defendant wished to bury the body in England (his home for the last 13 years of his life, and where she and most of his children lived). A joint expert report indicated that a journal entry stating that the de...
Parsons & anr v Reid & anr [2022] WTLR 1103
Autumn 2022 #188William Reid (the deceased) died on 20 March 2018. He left a will dated 20 December 2004 and codicil dated 8 February 2012 (together the will), which appointed the claimants, Nicholas Parsons and Mark Hill (respectively the deceased’s solicitor and land agent), as executors and trustees, and left the residuary estate on discretionary trusts for classes including his children and grandchildren. The defendants, Stephen Reid and Judith Shaw, were the deceased’s children. The deceased also left a letter of wishes which expressed the wish that payments be made to Stephen reflecting various mo...