Marlborough DP Ltd v Commissioners for HMRC [2021] WTLR 1329
Winter 2021 #185Marlborough DP Ltd (MDPL) operated a dental practice, through which a Dr Thomas, its director and sole shareholder, provided dental services. It had instituted a ‘remuneration trust’ (RT), which it had stated to be for the benefit of persons who had provided or might in the future provide services, custom or products to MDPL. MDPL made ‘contributions’ to the RT which were said to reflect ‘part of the economic cost to [MDPL] of earning its profits’. MDPL then deducted its contributions to the RT as business expenses in computing its profits for accounting purposes, and claimed deductions ...
Mazzoleni v Summerhill Trust Company (Isle of Man) Ltd [2021] WTLR 1409
Winter 2021 #185In 1994, by a series of trust deeds, Mrs Pesenti established four settlements in the Isle of Man known as the RR1, RR2, RR3 and RR4 Trusts, each of which was for the benefit of one of her children and his/her heirs. The RR2 Trust (the trust), which alone formed the subject of this case, took as its beneficiaries the appellant and her issue born before the perpetuity date, together with two named charities. The dispositive provisions of the trust required the trustees to hold the trust fund and its income on discretionary trusts for all or such one or more exclusively of the others or oth...
Petition by Vindex Trustees Ltd [2021] WTLR 1437
Winter 2021 #185The will and codicils of the late Estelle Brownrigg contained a gift of a portion of the residue of her estate to a charity named as the ‘Nelson Mandela Educational Fund, South Africa’. Despite an extensive search, nothing could be found to suggest that any charity with that name had ever existed. The sole executor of her estate petitioned for directions from the court as to whether the petitioner as executor could distribute a portion of the deceased’s residual estate to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, on the basis that the fact that no charity with the specified name had ever exist...
Ralph v Ralph [2021] WTLR 1443
Winter 2021 #185The claimant was the son of the defendant. The parties were the registered owners of a residential property. The property was purchased through a mortgage which was obtained using the claimant’s earnings. The defendant paid the balance of the purchase price meaning that the claimant made no contribution. The TR1 was signed by the transferors but not the claimant and defendant as transferees, but nevertheless contained a manuscript cross in Box 11 recording that ‘the transferees are to hold the property on trust for themselves as tenants in common in equal shares’. The claimant claimed a ...
Royal Commonwealth Socitety for the Blind v Beasant & anr [2021] WTLR 1457
Winter 2021 #185By her will dated 27 June 2016 (the will) Audrey Thelma Anita Arkell (the testatrix) appointed the defendants as executors and gave a nil-rate band legacy, defined as the largest sum of cash which could be given without any inheritance tax becoming due on the transfer of value deemed to be made immediately before her death, to the first defendant. The testatrix then gave to the first defendant a specific devise, a specific bequest and her personal chattels free of tax. Pecuniary legacies were also given free of tax to other legatees and the net residuary estate was divided between the cl...
The Law Society v Dua & anr [2021] WTLR 1469
Winter 2021 #185Between 2011 and 2013, the claimant obtained multiple charging orders in respect of five properties registered in the joint names of Mr and Mrs Dua. The Duas occupied four of the properties as a single residence, known together as ‘Fulmer House’. The other was a separate property known as 49 Sudbury Avenue.
The Duas had purchased 49 Sudbury Avenue in 1987 and occupied it as their family home until 2004. The purchase had been funded by a mortgage and the Duas’ evidence was that Mr Dua alone had made the mortgage payments. In 1992/93 and 1995, there were two major extensions to 49 S...
Thompson v Hopkinson [2021] WTLR 1521
Winter 2021 #185The pursuer and appellant (the appellant) brought proceedings for the production and reduction of a will executed by his late brother, Samuel Thompson, on 27 November 2018. Samuel Thompson had subsequently died on 26 February 2019.
The defendant and respondent (the respondent) was the principal beneficiary and residuary legatee in terms of the 27 November 2018 will. The respondent had provided care services to the deceased from 2012 until his death. In a prior will dated 26 April 2012 the deceased left his entire estate, save for his home, to the appellant.
The appellant ...
Re Toner (deceased) [2021] WTLR 1535
Winter 2021 #185By her last will and testament, dated 22 February 2013, the deceased bequeathed a number of pecuniary legacies of between £5,000 and £30,000, totalling £260,000. The residue of the deceased’s estate was shared by three beneficiaries, although the main residuary beneficiary had predeceased the deceased, creating a partial intestacy. The issue before the court was whether, as a matter of statutory interpretation, s30(3) of the Administration of Estates Act (Northern Ireland) 1955 meant that the property of the deceased undisposed of by her will should be applied in the first instance to th...
Re Will of HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh [2021] WTLR 1545
Winter 2021 #185This was an application by the executor of HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, for an order that his will be sealed up and that no copy of the will should be made for the record or kept on the court file, and for a direction to exclude the value of the estate from the grant of probate. The Attorney General was the sole defendant whose role it was to represent the public interest. The Attorney General strongly supported the application.
Applications to seal the wills of senior members of the Royal Family had been made for over a century. It appeared that they were always hear...